Two More Acquisitions in the Bulgarian ICT Industry
Sofia-based ScaleFocus Acquires Upnetix
The Bulgarian software company ScaleFocus announced the acquisition of 100% of the Sofia-based privately held Upnetix, one of the 50 worldwide certified Google development agencies. Upnetix specializes in mobile engineering, front-end development and design-driven digital transformation. Tagging the Upnetix team, ScaleFocus will strengthen its capacity and technical skills in mobile engineering, front-end and design-driven digital transformation.
We are happy to welcome the Upnetix team to the ScaleFocus family. 🙌 Read more in the article below 👇https://t.co/tv0ZCGenze pic.twitter.com/H8zeVVZAWV
— ScaleFocus (@ScaleFocus) September 26, 2018
ScaleFocus is a Sofia-based company, founded in 2012. Currently, the company operates with stand-alone offices in London, Munich, Zurich and Washington DC. ScaleFocus has two more offices in Bulgaria – in Plovdiv and Burgas – and is about to open a third one in Varna in October. As of September 2018 the company services medium and large-scale enterprise customers across North America and Western Europe, with a full-time staff of 500+ people.
Founded in 2015, Upnetix is a privately held JSC, currently having an engineering staff of 120 professionals. Upnetix is a major provider of custom client-tailored software solutions, the biggest mobile development studio in Bulgaria and is among the largest software outsourcing companies in South-Eastern Europe. The company provides the full range of software development and consultancy services, covering all stages of the product life cycle: strategy, business analysis, design and prototyping to development, quality assurance, deployment and post-project maintenance and support.
In 2017 Upnetix became the first and only company in SEE to become a certified Google Developer Agency. In both 2017 and 2018, it has been recognized as the fastest-growing technology company in Bulgaria in the TOP 100 Annual Ranking by ICT Media and Computerworld, which honors companies, headquartered in Bulgaria, that have experienced substantial growth over the last three years. It was named as the most dynamically growing company in the software and outsourcing sector in Bulgaria from institutions like Forbes and GSA.
Stillfront Group has acquired the Sofia-based Imperia Online
The Swedish firm buys out 100% of the shares of Imperia Online in a deal worth €10 million. The Bulgarian studio is one of the biggest game production companies in Southeastern Europe with 25 released games, including the flagship title Imperia Online – a medieval cross-platform MMO strategy with over 40 million users worldwide.
Meanwhile, Stillfront is a network of independent developers, publishers and distributors. Imperia Online becomes the tenth subsidiary, joining previous acquisitions – the Hamburg-based studio Goodgame, the German sports management game OnlineFussballManager, the Dublin developer eRepublik Labs and the MENA publisher Babil Games, among others.
The acquisition is expected to be completed on October 11th. €5 million is payable in cash to Imperia Online’s former owners, while the other €5 million is payable in newly issued Stillfront shares. The value of the deal could raise to €27.5 million depending on the studio’s earn-out over the next three years.
