TA Associates acquires Cmosis

PMV, Capital-E and ING Group fully exited the business as part of the transaction. TA acquired a majority stake in Cmosis.

The market share of complementary metal-oxide semiconductors (CMOS) within the image sensor market is in the process of exceeding its previously dominant counterpart, charge-coupled device (CCD) technology, according to TA – a shift that is expected to prove favourable for Cmosis.

Within the image sensor market, Cmosis is focused predominantly on the machine vision, production cameras, traffic enforcement, medical devices and consumer product segments.

Previous investment
Cmosis was established with the help of Capital-E in November 2007. The venture capital firm and the company's founders – Tim Baeyens, Jan Bogaerts, Lou Hermans, Gérald Lepage and Guy Meynants – injected €1.175m into the company to get it off the ground.

This was followed by a further capital injection by Capital-E in May 2009. The firm invested €1.1m in the company alongside management. Capital-E backed Cmosis via its Capital-E Fund I vehicle, in which PMV is a cornerstone investor.

In August 2009, PMV and ING backed Cmosis with a €3m investment. ING Corporate Investments provided around €1.5m of the total and its ING Activator Fund supplied €500,000, according to unquote" data.

PMV footed the balance via Vlaams Innovatiefonds (Vinnof), a seed and early-stage fund managed by PMV, which invests in companies based in the Flemish region of Belgium.

Company
Founded in 2007, Cmosis is headquartered in Antwerp and employs 62 staff. The company designs, manufactures and tests standard and custom CMOS image sensors for a range of applications, including airbag deployment control for the automotive industry; x-rays and mammography for the medical industry; and earth observation and star tracking for the space industry.

The company reportedly generates turnover of €40m – a stunning 4,098% increase since inception – and an EBITDA of €10m.

People
Luc De Mey is the CEO and chairman of Cmosis. Morgan Seigler is a principal at TA and will join Cmosis's board of directors alongside TA managing director Ajit Nedungadi.

Advisers
Equity – EOC Partners (Corporate finance); Travers Smith (Legal); NautaDutilh (Legal).
Company – Oppenheimer Europe (Corporate finance); ING Corporate Finance (Corporate finance); Baker & McKenzie (Legal).

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