Axon Sold to EVS in $11.5 Million Deal

EVS has bought the broadcast and media network infrastructure specialist Axon in a deal worth $11.5 million that includes 80 staff and its development centers in the Netherlands and the UK. Axon is responsible for the Cerebrum control and monitoring system, Neuron IP stream processing platform, and the Synapse modular infrastructure platform.

It has an international presence in the live broadcast infrastructure market, including mobile trucks and data centers, and a product portfolio that is said to “complements EVS’ existing live production offering.”

In a statement, EVS said the acquisition, the largest in its history, will position the company as the “only technology company able to provide a comprehensive modern media infrastructure solution that includes advanced IP processing, SDI/IP conversion, SDN-based control and monitoring, as well as UHD-4K and IP multiviewer.”

“We’re extremely excited about the opportunities this acquisition will provide us and our customers over the coming months and years,” said EVS chief executive Serge Van Herck. “Axon’s strong broadcast reputation and expertise, combined with our shared customer service-focused philosophy, make this marriage a perfect fit. It will enable us to deliver the most comprehensive media infrastructure solutions on the market.”

The Axon brand will be absorbed into EVS over the coming weeks and its product portfolio will be integrated into EVS’ global solution offering.

“This deal offers a major growth opportunity for both businesses, bringing together two innovative and proven product portfolios to form a unique end-to-end offering,” says Axon chief executive Michiel Van Duijvendijk. “We’re looking forward to joining the EVS team and working together to provide our customers with all the tools they need to power their journey towards IP-based media production.”

The objective is to integrate Axon team members and to further invest in their technology and market expertise, EVS said.

Axon generated $19.2 million of revenues in 2019. The value of the transaction is set at $11.5 million, plus an earn-out up to a maximum of $2.7 million. The acquisition will be paid by cash and debt.

Part of the bigger picture
In early 2020, EVS’ leadership team revealed the PLAYForward program, a global company growth strategy that identified the importance of developing a broader offering of modular and flexible IP infrastructure.

The company said that integrating Axon’s product portfolio will allow it to offer customers “the most extensive live production infrastructure on the market, enabling optimised resource management, greater scalability and faster deployment across multiple sites for remote live operations.”

Another benefit, it said, was that it will also enable EVS customers to implement turnkey solutions to “smoothly migrate their infrastructure towards IP and remote production-based workflows.”

The deal will provide EVS will improved sales channel options too, EVS added.