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The Italian company acquires Hopenly and completes the evolution of its business model with high value-added services.
Arezzo, Italy – November 6th 2020 – SECO SPA, a leading company in the high-tech sector specialized in computer miniaturization and IoT software solutions, with shareholder Fondo Italiano Tecnologia e Crescita fund managed by Fondo Italiano d'Investimento SGR, has signed an agreement to acquire the majority shares of Hopenly Srl, an innovative data science SME.
The transaction involves a quota acquisition for a total of 70% of Hopenly through a mix of both capital increase and shares acquisition. The shareholder, founders and managers Barbara Vecchi and Roberto Grassi will continue, together with SECO, to manage the company.
Founded in Vignola (MO, Italy) and specialized in machine learning and artificial intelligence projects with a team of 10 data scientists and AI developers, Hopenly offers its customers open source services for data extraction, data processing and creation of predictive models. Its business is based on close collaboration with customers, mainly for organizations in the insurance, fashion, food and banking sectors, for which it develops customized solutions and services for image recognition, risk analysis, forecasting and IoT analytics.
The transaction fits the SECO strategy for the development of a services platform aimed at the management and use of data collected on spot in the Iot field, accelerating in the direction of the implementation of AI and machine learning skills. Hopenly thus integrates the offering of the Italian Company, which is now approaching the IPO, by providing a service that starts from data entry up to data processing and analysis useful for the development of innovative and effective business strategies.
"Hopenly is an excellence in the Italian innovation scene - stated Massimo Mauri, SECO SpA’s CEO - This operation is closely linked to the one carried out this summer with Ispirata and is important because it completes the evolutionary process of SECO's business model by integrating the sale of high value-added software services. Thanks to Hopenly's skills, we can now create an IoT software suite that will allow us to extract relevant information from the data collected in the field and use it to improve the profitability of our customers' business. With the recent acquisitions of Hopenly and Ispirata, we have completed the evolution of our technological offering by becoming a complete IoT partner to which any company can entrust its digital transformation".
“We started seven years ago with a courageous belief in Data Science with the aim of making the numbers speak and, through them, helping companies, managers and entrepreneurs to optimize investments and eliminate waste. We did it believing that innovation is not much about having technological means but rather an open mind capable of receiving and using technology to its full potential. For this reason, Hopenly is characterized by a heterogeneous team understanding that different backgrounds lead to better performances” says Barbara Vecchi, CEO and Founder of Hopenly. "We had the opportunity to carry out interesting and particularly innovative projects in various sectors: banking, insurance, food, fashion, HR and above all healthcare, where the application of AI supported the study of a rare genetic disease and infertility. The fact that an important group like SECO has recognized our value is a source of pride, a recognition of our commitment to a transparent, responsible and impartial use of data".
For the acquisition, SECO was supported by Value Track as Financial Advisor and by Deloitte for the due diligence, by the law firm Ristuccia Tufarelli & Partners and by Studio Lomarini.
SECO
SECO is an Italian group with a leading global position in the sector of high technology, thanks to its expertise in the miniaturization of computers and Internet of Things (IoT). Since 1979, it has been designing and manufacturing from single microcomputers to integrated and “ready to use” systems. With more than 380 employees and with revenues as of December 31st, 2019 of Euro 66.5 million, SECO serves a wide range of industrial sectors, from biomedicine to wellness, industrial automation to transportation, and with customers that are market leaders, such as Cimbali, Esaote, Evoca, and Technogym. The company is a co-founder of the miniaturization international standard of the Qseven® computer and collaborates with a broad network of strategic suppliers in the international high-tech panorama (including Intel®, AMD, NXP, NVIDIA®, Wind, and Telenor), as well as with universities, research centers and innovative start-ups. SECO operates on a global scale with offices in Italy, Germany, USA, India and Taiwan. Participated by Fondo Italiano Tecnologia e Crescita managed by Fondo Italiano d'Investimento SGR, in 2019 SECO further expanded its reach by completing two important acquisitions. It strengthened its investments in research and development and production capabilities in China by acquiring a majority stake in Fannal Electronics CO. Ltd. In the United States it acquired 100% of InHand Electronics, based in Maryland, a leading provider of low-power rugged embedded systems and software to original equipment manufacturers of handheld, portable, Internet of Things (IoT), and wireless devices for the military/defense, industrial, medical, transportation and infotainment markets. To complete its IoT technology/ product portfolio, in July 2020 SECO acquired Ispirata, a start-up that provides integrated solutions to companies entering the IoT/ Embedded world, accessible and ready-to-use for optimized data field management. In June 2020 SECO board of directors approved the IPO project. For more information: www.seco.com
Hopenly
Hopenly is an innovative small enterprise working in Data Science. It was founded by Barbara Vecchi in 2014. Its busines involves collecting data and analysing them in order to help companies read the data, to understand their language and to interpret the story they have to tell. Maximum technology combined with effective storytelling. This is what Hopenly does. It has developed projects for various sectors: Banking, Insurance, Fashion, Food, Healthcare and Human Resources. It has its main office in Bologna but is also present in Turin, Milan and Reggio Emilia. The Hopenly team today is composed of 10 people: a team that creates tailored solutions and which draws its strength from the mix of age, gender, culture/origin and background with different academic qualifications. This diversity permits Hopenly to tackle problems from different points of view and to find different solutions to the same problem. Go to www.hopenly.com to find out more.
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Contacts:
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Simona Agostinelli
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Tel. +39 0575 26979
simona.agostinelli@seco.com
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