PTC is to acquire cloud-based PLM pioneer Arena Solutions for $715 million in cash, claimed by PTC as the
‘logical next step’ in its strategy to be the industrial SaaS leader.
“A big first step was the acquisition of Onshape, the SaaS leader in CAD and collaborative design capabilities,” said PTC CEO Jim Heppelmann at the announcement.
“Arena will enable us to round out the solution with full PLM capabilities and deliver the only complete CAD + PLM SaaS solution in the industry.”
Arena has been around for a good two decades, with its roots as a prototyping, RFQ and BOM-based management system for product development.
First under the name bom.com, then switching to Arena in 2003, the service grew to become one of the few true cloud-based PLM systems while majority of other vendors in the PLM space scrambled around working out how to shoe-horn their monolithic lifecycle management systems onto AWS.
The company is bringing its 1,200 customers into the PTC fold and includes household names, such as Peloton, Sonos and Square. It’s also worth noting that Arena grew out of frustration by the two founders when managing the development of underwater camera products.
Heppelmann is bullish about the acquisition, particularly given the acquisition of Onshape only 12 months ago.
He stated: “A year ago, PTC entered the SaaS world for product development software with our acquisition of Onshape. That move reflected our strong conviction that our market is nearing a tipping point in its willingness to adopt SaaS technology, following the trend seen in many other software markets.
“The effects of COVID-19 have dramatically accelerated this inevitable shift, with PTC customer surveys indicating a 25 per cent increase in readiness for SaaS PLM since the pandemic started.
“We expect the acquisition of Arena will significantly extend our leadership position as we continue to redefine the future of our industry.”
