Gimv et al. sell Movea

Ellie Pullen
08 July 2014

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Gimv, alongside other institutional backers, has sold Movea, a French developer of motion processing technology, to NYSE-listed InvenSense.

The company has been wholly acquired, providing an exit route for Gimv, Intel Capital, iSource Gestion and CEA Investissement.

InvenSense has simultaneously acquired privately owned US business Trusted Positioning and has paid $81m for the two assets, $6m of which will be paid with InvenSense stock and the remainder in cash.

The sale has had a positive impact of €5.2m on Gimv's equity value, equivalent to 21 cents per share. According to the firm, the investment also generated a higher IRR than Gimv's average.

The firm recently published its financial figures for the year ending March 2014. Gimv posted a €15m profit for the period and an equity value of €992m. Total investments – including via co-investment funds – reached €264.8m, with total divestments sitting at €131.1m.

Previous investment
Gimv first invested in the company in January 2008, providing €7.3m in funding alongside iSource and CEA. Gimv and iSource led the round, investing €5m between them, according to unquote" data.

In August 2012, Intel Capital led a €6.5m round for the company, with participation from Gimv and iSource.

Company
Movea is headquartered in Grenoble, with additional offices in Silicon Valley and Seoul. The company was established in 2007 when it span out from French research institute CEA-Léti.

The business develops data fusion and motion processing software and firmware, designed to track activity for the e-health and electronic consumer industries. For example, Movea's software is used to track physical activity on e-health products for smartphones.

Customers include Philips, Samsung, Orange and STMicroelectronics.

People
Sam Guilaumé is the CEO of Movea, while Behrooz Abdi is the president and CEO of InvenSense. Gimv partner Geoffroy Dubus sat on Movea's board of directors.