PTC acquires one of Germany's most innovative AR companies, RE'FLEKT.

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The Background

RE’FLEKT is a market leading Munich-based company in the field of Augmented Reality (AR) with a focus on remote assistance and AR-enhanced instruction manuals for complex machinery. As COVID-19 further spurred the AR market for remote solutions, RE’FLEKT successfully positioned itself as one of the leading European providers for large industrial companies. RE'FLEKT focuses on the fastest growing segments within the B2B AR industry, such as manufacturing-, machinery- and transportation companies, representing a large addressable market.

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The Deal

US-based global technology company PTC has reached an agreement with RE'FLEKT. The transaction comprises the transfer of RE'FLEKT’s intellectual property and key employees. Therefore, RE'FLEKT’s founders and the team will join PTC’s Vuforia® business unit and will further drive PTC’s European expansion plans.

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“AR has emerged as a powerful and valued solution for frontline workers in enterprise and industrial settings, modernizing training, remote collaboration, procedural guidance, and quality inspection,” said Michael Campbell, EVP, and General Manager of Augmented Reality at PTC.

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Mirko Heide, Managing Director of IEG – Investment Banking Group: “This transaction will further boost PTC’s global ambition in the enterprise AR market, in particular in Europe. We are glad to have contributed our part to this Deep-Tech deal”.

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IEG – Investment Banking Group has acted as exclusive financial advisor to RE'FLEKT and its shareholders.

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The Partners

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RE’FLEKT, based in Munich and founded in 2012, offers state-of-the-art real-time remote assistance (‘REFLEKT Remote’) as well as a modular Enterprise Augmented Reality (AR) System to build and visualize guided work instructions (‘REFLEKT ONE’). RE'FLEKT has set itself the goal to facilitate front-line work by offering step-by-step instructions, digital training guides, real-time data visualization and remote work solutions with AR and live videos.

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PTC is a global technology company headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1985, the company provides technology and solutions worldwide in areas ranging from engineering, supply chain, and manufacturing to sales and service via their IoT and Vuforia AR platform. In combination with an extensive partner network, PTC provides customers flexibility in how its technology can be deployed to drive digital transformation – on premises, in the cloud, or via its pure SaaS platform.

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The Perspective

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Wolfgang Stelzle, CEO of RE'FLEKT, says about the transaction: “I’m proud of what the RE'FLEKT team has accomplished over the last decade. We built a company that developed innovative products and helped bring AR into the mainstream in industrial enterprises.” As he is joining PTC as part of the agreement, he is excited to bring the years of expertise and insights to the Vuforia business, in collaboration with Michael and the extended team of PTC. With the acquisition of RE'FLEKT, PTC wants to further drive their global expansion and especially increase their presence in the European market.

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