Demonstrates Union Square Advisors’ continued momentum in providing strategic M&A advice to industry leading software companies innovating in Digital Transformation
On June 14, 2018, Dassault Systèmes announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire a majority stake in Centric Software, a privately-owned industry market leader driving digital transformation with software innovation in the fashion, apparel, luxury and retail sectors. With this investment, Dassault Systèmes aims to accelerate the digital transformation of companies seeking solutions for the increasingly complex development of collections that respond to today’s on-trend and on-demand consumers, representing a multi-billion-dollar total addressable market.
Headquartered in California’s Silicon Valley and with offices in 13 countries, Centric Software provides product lifecycle management software solutions to more than 600 globally-recognized brands including ASICS, Bass Pro, Belle China, Bestseller, Etam, Kate Spade, Loblaws, Louis Vuitton, Michael Kors, Samsonite, Ted Baker, Tommy Hilfiger and others. In 2017, Centric Software grew over 60 percent for a revenue of $61 million and generated positive net income. Centric’s industry-specific collaborative PLM platform is used for merchandise planning, product specifications, materials management, product sourcing, cost scenarios, collection management, calendar management and quality management, on desktop and also optimized for mobile devices, to increase efficiency, accelerate time to market, and improve sales and product margins.
Today’s consumers are more knowledgeable about products than ever before, quickly defining and following trends in a world where the digital and physical converge. Competitive apparel and fashion brands are scrambling to meet their expectations for on-trend and on-demand products by increasing the number of collections they produce each year and accelerating their launch. For thousands of companies, this challenge requires last-minute decision-making and the need to reconfigure business processes for product creation through market launch quickly without eroding margins or product quality
Under the terms of the agreement, Dassault Systèmes will acquire for cash a majority ownership of Centric Software, which will be comprised between 58 and 69 percent depending on the Centric Software shareholders’ election, and an advance payment on the acquisition of the remainder of the shares, which will take place in 2020 and 2021. The total consideration for the acquisition of 100 percent of Centric Software’s equity will depend on Centric Software’s revenue growth and profitability in the two years to come, and will be comprised between four and six times 2019 and 2020 revenues.
About Centric Software
From its headquarters in Silicon Valley and offices in trend capitals around the world, Centric Software provides a Digital Transformation Platform for the most prestigious names in fashion, retail, footwear, luxury, outdoor and consumer goods. Centric Visual Innovation Platform (VIP) is a visual, fully digital collection of boards for touch-based devices like iPad, iPhone and large-scale, touch-screen televisions. Centric VIP transforms decision making and automates execution to truly collapse time to market and distance to trend. Centric Software’s flagship product lifecycle management (PLM) platform, Centric 8, delivers enterprise-class merchandise planning, product development, sourcing, business planning, quality, and collection management functionality tailored for fast-moving consumer industries. Centric SMB packages extended PLM including innovative technology and key industry learnings tailored for small businesses. For more information, visit www.centricsoftware.com.
About Dassault Systèmes
Dassault Systèmes, the 3DEXPERIENCE Company, provides business and people with virtual universes to imagine sustainable innovations. Its world-leading solutions transform the way products are designed, produced, and supported. Dassault Systèmes’ collaborative solutions foster social innovation, expanding possibilities for the virtual world to improve the real world. The group brings value to over 220, 000 customers of all sizes, in all industries, in more than 140 countries. For more information, visit www.3ds.com.
About Union Square Advisors
Founded in 2007, with offices in San Francisco and New York, Union Square Advisors works with leading public and private technology companies, private equity and venture capital firms across the technology landscape with a primary focus on Software, Software-Enabled Services, IT Infrastructure and Internet/Digital Media/Marketing Technology. Since inception, Union Square Advisors has advised on over 95 transactions, valued in excess of $95 billion. For more information, please visit http://www.usadvisors.com.
