Hampleton Partners, the international M&A and corporate finance advisory firm for technology companies, has advised Apostera, the market-leading provider of AR/MR technology for the automotive industry, on its acquisition by HARMAN International, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. focused on connected technologies for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets.
Apostera’s augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) software solutions will expand HARMAN’s automotive product offerings and position the company at the forefront of automotive AR/MR experience design. Apostera’s mixed reality solution combines Augmented Reality, Machine Learning, Computer Vision, and sensor fusion in a hardware-agnostic software platform. Combined with HARMAN’s digital cockpit product portfolio, these new software solutions will bridge the gap between the physical and digital worlds.
Andrey Golubinskiy, CEO of Apostera, said: “Hampleton has a well-established track record in autotech advisory, and as soon as we spoke, it was clear they understood our tech stack and where we slot into today’s, and tomorrow’s, automotive value chain. The Hampleton team ran a structured process that resulted in a tie-up with the perfect partner who shared a common strategic vision. By joining forces with HARMAN, we will be able to deploy faster, at greater scale and across a greater breadth of automotive applications, looking keenly ahead as part of a globally recognized, trusted automotive brand.”
Miro Parizek, principal partner and founder at Hampleton, commented: “Mixed reality is at a critical point in the automotive industry. Apostera is at the forefront of a technology that – even just a few short years ago – was purely at the proof-of-concept stage. Now, Apostera is the frontrunner in commercially validated automotive MR applications that are increasingly being deployed at scale in series production by global OEMs.”
The transaction represents another milestone in Hampleton’s leading autotech coverage, following the strategic advisory to Charge-Amps, the sales of 2getthere and Simi to ZF Friedrichshafen, and the sale of VI-grade to Spectris plc.
Miro Parizek added: “We are proud to have advised on this exciting combination between a cutting-edge European automotive start-up and the worldwide leader in vehicle display solutions. The Apostera team has built a game-changing technology, and I look forward to seeing them achieve even greater heights together with HARMAN International.”
The engagement was led by Miro Parizek, with Nicholas Milligan and Tim Stemkens supporting the transaction at Hampleton.
