US co Uniphore buys Israeli tech veteran Jacada

deal  merger  picture: photo to go
deal merger picture: photo to go

Financial details were not disclosed. Herzliya-based Jacada will become a development center for Uniphore.

Veteran Israeli technology company Jacada (OTC: JCDAF) is being sold to privately-held US company Uniphore. Jacada is listed on the OTC market in New York at a market cap of $31 million. It is believed that the acquisition is at a premium over the current share price, which is $5.15. The companies did not disclose financial details of the deal.

Jacada was founded in 1990. Its field is automation of customer service processes. The company employs 45 people in Herzliya. The acquiring company is from Palo Alto, California, and is active in artificial intelligence for customer service. The companies say that Jacada will continue after the acquisition as a development and excellence center in Herzliya.

"Combined with Jacada’s innovative low code/no code platform, Uniphore’s industry-leading conversational automation platform will empower businesses to easily automate key interactions?across self-service and agent-assisted customer engagements.

"With this comprehensive platform, business users can realize state-of-the-art digital transformation, resulting in significant ROI.

"The acquisition comes at a time when enterprises are having more conversations with their customers over multiple mediums and modes of communications. Currently, the market is heavily fragmented with point solutions across self-service, agent-assist, analytics, security, front-office, back office and RPA products," the companies' announcement states.

"Today, I welcome the Jacada team and celebrate the announcement that will ultimately bring cutting-edge low code/no code technology to our portfolio along with a very talented team of professionals who will supercharge the Uniphore innovation engine," said Umesh Sachdev, CEO and Co-founder of Uniphore. "I am very excited to have the Jacada team join us as we work together to bring our customers new ways to quickly and easily build and deliver transformative customer experiences."

Jacada CEO Yochai Rozenblat said, "Our customers rely on us to bring them the latest and greatest solutions to help them grow their business. We are stoked about joining forces with a team who is both experienced and passionate about contact centers, customer experience, and intelligent automation. Looking at what Uniphore has developed across such a wide range of applications and areas, we know that together, we will truly lead the industry in new and exciting ways, combining advanced automation and AI capabilities to deliver solutions that create lasting value and differentiation for our customers."

Subject to completing customary closing conditions, the Jacada team, its intellectual property, and products will become part of Uniphore.

Jacada listed on Nasdaq in 1999. In 2012, it transferred to the OTC market. In 2016, Haim Shani and Moshe Lichtman's IGP (Israel Growth Partners) investment fund bought about a quarter of the shares in the company in three deals for a total sum of $7.1 million at prices of $4.5-5.95 per share. IGP later increased its stake in the company to 36%, but the last report of its holding was in 2018. At that time, the company's founder, Gideon (Gidi) Hollander, held 10% of the shares.

Jacada was represented in the deal by Adv. Dan Shamgar, Adv. Ronen Bezalel, and Adv. Jonathan Atha of Meitar Liquornik Geva Leshem Tal. Uniphore was represented in Israel by Adv. Doni Toledano and Adv. Jonathan Achiron of Erdinast, Ben Nathan, Toledano & Co.

Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on July 28, 2021

© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2021

deal  merger  picture: photo to go
deal merger picture: photo to go
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