PTC to acquire SaaS developer Onshape for $470m

PTC acquisition of Onshape : US software company PTC has agreed to acquire Onshape, developer of a Software as a Service (SaaS) product development platform that combines computer-aided design (CAD) with data management and collaboration tools, for around $470 million.

As per the latest IT acquisition news, the deal is expected to fast track PTC’s ability to drawn in new customers with a SaaS-based product offering and help it capitalize on the industry transition to SaaS.

Established in 2012 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Onshape had raked in over $150 million in funding so far and has 5,000 plus subscribers across the world.

Onshape’s software offering is provided in a SaaS model, making it accessible from any connected location or device, thereby removing the need for costly hardware and maintenance from administrative staff.

PTC acquisition of Onshape. Image courtesy of Onshape/Wikipedia.org.

According to PTC, distributed and mobile teams of designers, engineers, and others can benefit from the cloud nature of the product, which helps them to enhance collaboration and to drastically cut down the time required to introduce the new products to the market.

PTC said that the acquisition of Onshape is the logical next step in its overall evolution to a recurring revenue business model. The first step of PTC was a transition to subscription licensing, which was wrapped in January 2019.

PTC said that although the SaaS model is at a nascent stage in the CAD and PLM market, it is quickly becoming industry best practice in most other software domains.

Commenting on PTC acquisition of Onshape, Jim Heppelmann – president and CEO of PTC, said:  “Today, we see small and medium-sized CAD customers in the high-growth part of the CAD market shifting their interest toward SaaS delivery models, and we expect interest from larger customers to grow over time.

“The acquisition of Onshape complements our on-premises business with the industry’s only proven, scalable pure SaaS platform, which we expect will open new CAD and PLM growth opportunities while positioning PTC to be the leader as the market transitions toward the SaaS model.”

Post-acquisition, Onshape will operate as a business unit within PTC, with its present management team to directly report to Jim Heppelmann.

Jon Hirschtick – CEO and co-founder of Onshape, commenting on PTC acquisition of Onshape, said:  “At Onshape, we share PTC’s vision for helping organizations transform the way they develop products.

“We and PTC believe that the product development industry is nearing the ‘tipping point’ for SaaS adoption of CAD and data management tools. We look forward to empowering the customers we serve with the latest innovations to improve their competitive positions.”

For PTC,  Barclays has been the exclusive financial advisor for the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval and meeting of other closing conditions. PTC acquisition of Onshape is likely to be wrapped up in November 2019 as per the latest IT industry news.