acquisition

Built Robotics, maker of robotic Exosystem and working in construction autonomy, will acquire Roin Technologies, makers of an automated concrete power trowel. With this acquisition Built Robotics wants to expand automation beyond construction into new applications and markets.

Accenture buys Canadian Eclipse Automation, provider of manufacturing automation and robotics solutions. With this acquisition Accenture will be able to offer automated production lines that combine cloud, data and artificial intelligence (AI).

The United Robotics Group (URG), a subsidiary of the RAG-Stiftung in Essen, has reached an agreement with SoftBank Robotics Group Corp. (SBRG) to acquire their French subsidiary SoftBank Robotics Europe SAS (SBRE). SBRG will acquire a minority stake in URG and the two companies will continue to cooperate in the global marketing of various robots. By acquiring SBRE, URG will become one of the biggest service robotics companies in Europe.

Bosch has acquired Five, a European startup in the field of automated driving. At six locations in the United Kingdom, its roughly 140 associates are working on self-driving vehicles. Five gave preference to Bosch over other takeover bidders. The agreements with Five were signed at the beginning of April. It has been agreed that the financial details will not be disclosed. The acquisition is still subject to approval by the antitrust authorities.

 SS&C Technologies Holdings today announced it has completed its acquisition of Blue Prism for approximately $1.6 billion (£1.25 billion). Blue Prism is a robotics process automation (RPA) company headquartered in the U.K., whose services are used by more than 2,000 businesses worldwide. 

More and more major IT providers are paying attention to Robotic Process Automation (RPA), and are incorporating this into their own solutions. For example, Salesforce recently announced that RPA will be a part of its Einstein and Mulesoft portfolio. Rocking Robots talked about this with John Kucera, SVP of Product Management at Salesforce.

RPA supplier Blue Prism is likely to be acquired by investor Vista Equity Partners in the near future, reports Bloomberg news agency. The news agency mentions a possible acquisition amount of 1.1 billion pounds (1.5 billion dollars), based on anonymous sources. After the acquisition, Vista could merge the software with that of the previously acquired Tibco Software.

Deere & Company has acquired Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million USD. Founded in 2017, the Silicon Valley-based startup develops autonomous driving technology compatible with existing machines. The deal accelerates the development and delivery of automation and autonomy on the farm and supports John Deere’s long-term strategy to create smarter machines with advanced technology to support individual customer needs.

Salesforce has announced it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Servicetrace, a provider of robotic process automation (RPA), which, upon closing of the acquisition, will become a part of MuleSoft, a Salesforce company. The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of Salesforce’s fiscal year 2022, ending October 31, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.

ABB will acquire ASTI Mobile Robotics Group (ASTI), a global autonomous mobile robot (AMR) manufacturer. The acquisition, a key part of ABB’s external growth strategy, was signed on July 19 and is expected to close in mid-summer 2021. Both parties agreed not to disclose any details regarding the purchase price.