Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Jan 26, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Jan 26, 2006 |
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Software Info-Tech - Mergers & Acquisitions SiRF acquires ImpulseSoft for Rs 67.5 cr — Launches product combining GPS and Bluetooth tech Our Bureau
Mr K. Srikrishna (right), President & CEO, Impulsesoft, and Mr Kanwar Chadha, Founder & Vice- President, SiRF Technology.
Bangalore , Jan. 25 SIRF Technology Holdings, Inc, a Nasdaq-listed company that provides GPS chips, has acquired ImpulseSoft in a cash-and-stock deal worth Rs 67.5 crore. ImpulseSoft, an Indian start-up founded in 1999, provides BlueTooth solutions for the automotive and consumer market in India. SiRF holds 60 per cent of the GPS market share globally. Other players include STMicroelectronics and Qualcomm. Analysts estimated the company's revenues at $160 million (Rs 725 crore) by the end of last year. The acquisition was in line with SiRF's plan to offer "entertainment and location in a hands-free environment." This is SiRF's third acquisition in the last nine months, said Mr Kanwar Chadha, Founder and Member of Board of Directors, SiRF Technology. In April, it acquired a Swedish RF design company, Kisel Microelectronics, AB. In June, SiRF acquired Motorola's GPS division and entered into a supply agreement with Motorola for a total payment of $20 million in cash. Mr Chadha said that the company would not hesitate to acquire companies that work in domains related to mobiles and consumer electronics in India. SiRF has also announced the launch of a product that combines two potent technologies: GPS (global positioning system which enables the user to track goods, manage fleets, and identify their location using satellites) and BlueTooth (a wireless data transfer method used in mobiles and PDAs) in a single chip, SiRFLinkI. The global market for GPS devices is 10,000 crore. The Indian market is now at 50 crore, but we see potential for it to grow to 2,000 crore in the next three to four years, said Mr Ashu Pande, Vice-President (Marketing), Wireless Segment, SiRF Technology. India has contributed in a large way to the development of the new product. "The chip was designed at the Noida centre, while the software design was done here at Bangalore," said Mr Chadha. SiRFLinkI will be available in the second half of this year, he added. SiRF is headquartered at Silicon Valley, and has a chip-design centre in Noida, employing 25 engineers. ImpulseSoft employs 50 software development engineers. With its acquisition, India will be SiRF's second largest site. "We are looking at a 30-50 per cent growth in number of employees by year-end," said Mr Chadha.
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