IBM Corporation (NYSE: IBM) has acquired smartphone and tablet application developer Worklight Ltd.. No financial details were disclosed but the acquisition was reportedly for $50-60 million. This is IBM's 11th acquisition in Israel.
Worklight has raised $21 million since it was founded in 2006; its investors have therefore made a reasonable return on their money. Investors include Genesis Partners, Pitango Venture Capital, Index Ventures, and Shlomo Kramer, a founder of Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (Nasdaq: CHKP) and Imperva Inc. (NYSE: ) CEO. Worklight was founded by CEO Shahar Kaminitz, a former Amdocs Ltd. (NYSE: DOX) executive for internet operations.
"Globes" named Worklight as one of Israel's most promising start-ups in 2010.
IBM "With this acquisition, IBM's mobile offerings will span mobile application development, integration, security and management. "Worklight will become an important piece of IBM's mobility strategy, offering clients an open platform that helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between smartphone and tablet applications with enterprise IT systems."
IBM says that Worklight's revenue has more than doubled in the past two years, which means that its revenue was $5-10 million in 2011.
IBM has already acquired ten Israeli companies or companies with Israeli operations, and they have become an integral part of IBM's development operations. It has 1,100 employees in Haifa, Tel Aviv, Herzliya, Rehovot, and Jerusalem. Its largest Israeli acquisition was $140 million for Storwize in 2010.
Kaminitz said, "In the last year, we have seen surging demand from enterprises for mobility solutions that will support the unique set of challenges introduced by new smartphone and tablet platforms. Building on our existing partnership with IBM, the acquisition of Worklight further enhances IBM's broad mobile portfolio. Now it will be easier than ever for our clients to offer secure and connected applications to their customers, business partners and employees."
Worklight is headquartered in New York and has its R&D center in Shefayim, near Herzliya.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 31, 2012
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