LEA Partners merges PROCAD, keytech and ACATEC to form new solution provider

Karls­ruhe — The tech­no­logy inves­tor LEA Part­ners (“LEA”) supports the merger of PROCAD, with keytech Soft­ware GmbH as well as ACATEC Soft­ware GmbH to form one of the leading soft­ware provi­ders for the digi­ta­liza­tion of the product life­cy­cle with 250 employees, around 1,350 custo­mers and more than 125,000 users. The move will increase the Group’s inno­va­tive strength and closely inte­grate its product data manage­ment (PDM), product life­cy­cle manage­ment (PLM) and product confi­gu­ra­tion (CPQ) solutions.

The low-code approach and stan­dar­di­zed imple­men­ta­tion methods mean custo­mers are produc­tive faster. The appli­ca­ti­ons’ func­tions, ease of use and custo­miza­bi­lity signi­fi­cantly increase process effi­ci­ency. The comple­xity of end-to-end digi­tiza­tion from deve­lo­p­ment, marke­ting, produc­tion and main­ten­ance to the digi­tal twin is made mana­geable — in the cloud and on-premise.

Foun­ded in Reck­ling­hau­sen in 1996, keytech Soft­ware GmbH is one of the leading PLM provi­ders in the German-spea­king region specia­li­zing in the opti­miza­tion of busi­ness proces­ses within the product lifecycle.

ACATEC Soft­ware GmbH, based near Hano­ver, was foun­ded in 2004 and has since become one of the most inno­va­tive provi­ders of Confi­gure Price Quote (CPQ) and CAD auto­ma­tion soft­ware in Germany.

Gerhard Knoch, Mana­ging Direc­tor of PROCAD:
“We are deligh­ted to join forces at eye level and aim to be the part­ner of choice for our custo­mers when it comes to orchest­ra­ting know­ledge along the entire product life­cy­cle in a highly effi­ci­ent way — no other company offers such easy digi­tiza­tion of these busi­ness proces­ses. With our strong part­ner network, we will conti­nue to expand our market posi­tion internationally.”

Dr. Reiner Heim­soth, foun­der and mana­ging direc­tor of keytech:
“With keytech and PROCAD, two extre­mely expe­ri­en­ced compa­nies come toge­ther. When two strong PLM experts join forces and combine their in-depth know­ledge, it’s clear that the combi­na­tion of proven PLM and PDM solu­ti­ons provi­des the indus­try with an enorm­ous increase in efficiency.”

Henning Bitter, foun­der and mana­ging direc­tor of ACATEC:
“Our speed­maxx product confi­gu­ra­tor comple­ments the PLM solu­ti­ons from keytech and PROCAD perfectly. The merger crea­tes by far the best over­all solu­tion for an all-round smart, digi­tal product life­cy­cle, start­ing from product confi­gu­ra­tion by the custo­mer at the point of sale, through produc­tion, to opera­tion and main­ten­ance of the product.”

Phil­ipp Hertel, Part­ner at LEA:
“With our invest­ment in PROCAD in August 2018, we pursued the goal of expan­ding to become the leading digi­ta­liza­tion solu­tion for product life­cy­cle manage­ment. The addi­tion of keytech and ACATEC’s market-reco­­g­ni­­zed solu­ti­ons and expert teams is another important step on this path.”

About LEA Partners
LEA Part­ners, as an entre­pre­neu­rial equity part­ner, supports foun­ders and manage­ment teams at diffe­rent stages of deve­lo­p­ment in their growth and achie­ve­ment of a leading market posi­tion. Based in Karls­ruhe, one of the largest tech­no­logy clus­ters in Europe, LEA Part­ners has mana­ged invest­ments in nume­rous tech­no­logy compa­nies since 2002. The merger of PROCAD, keytech and ACATEC repres­ents another trans­for­ma­tive tran­sac­tion for the €200 million B2B tech fund focu­sed on soft­ware compa­nies from the DACH region.