Japanese chip giant Renesas Electronics Corp. has bought Israel’s Celeno Communications, a major producer of Wi-Fi solutions, for $315 million (approximately 35.9 billion yen / 114 yen to the dollar) in an all-cash transaction including milestone payments.
The deal should close by the end of the calendar year 2021, subject to customary closing conditions.
Founded in 2005 by Gilad Rozen, Celeno employs 170 people, it has 100 clients worldwide and is estimated to generate tens of millions of dollars in annual sales.
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The company has raised $140 million to date from investors including Pitango, Bank Hapoalim, Red Dot Capital, Cisco, Samsung, and OurCrowd.
Celeno’s field-proven Wi-Fi and software capabilities, according to Renesas, complement its own and enable the creation of comprehensive, end-to-end embedded solutions for the fast-growing markets for low-power connection in IoT, infrastructure, industrial, and automotive applications.
Celeno provides a comprehensive portfolio of wireless communication solutions, including innovative Wi-Fi chipsets and software, for high-performance home networks, smart buildings, enterprise, and industrial industries. Its industry-leading small Wi-Fi 6 and 6E chipset options provide improved security, low latency, and low power consumption.
In addition to expanding the solution offering, the acquisition also increases Renesas’ engineering and design scale with Celeno’s design center in Israel and by welcoming R&D staff based in Israel, Ukraine, India, China, Taiwan, and more.
Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata said, “The transaction announced today underscores our continuous commitment to improve performance and efficiency in electronic systems. Building on our recently-expanded connectivity portfolio following the Dialog acquisition, the addition of Celeno provides us with more advanced Wi-Fi connectivity capabilities to deliver end-to-end connectivity solutions for both clients and access points. Renesas is now strongly positioned to capitalize on the growing opportunities from the massive rise in connectivity and requirements created by today’s increasingly connected world.”
Gilad Rozen, President, and CEO of Celeno said: “This is a compelling transaction for both our customers and employees. Our depth and strength in connectivity combined with Renesas’ industry-leading portfolio of embedded solutions will allow us, together, to open up new growth areas we can target. Renesas will also provide us with the go-to-market capabilities to bring Celeno to a broader range of customers.”
