Anoto Announces Acquisition of We-Inspire, Destiny Wireless, and Pen Generations

Latest acquisitions fuel product development and expansion of company’s multi-surface digital writing and drawing platform

LUND, Sweden – February 8^th, 2016 – Anoto Group AB, the global leader in digital writing and drawing solutions, today announced that it has entered agreements to acquire three companies, including We-Inspire, Pen Generations, and Destiny Wireless. The acquisitions provide Anoto with strategic growth opportunities in European and Asian markets, as well as enhanced product development capabilities in both hardware and software. All three companies have been key licensing partners within Anoto’s value chain, signalling the continued effort to consolidate the multi-surface interactive displays and digital pen ecosystem under the company’s direct management and control. 

“The successful acquisition of Livescribe in late 2015 bolstered our digital pen offering with a well-known and respected consumer brand,” states Stein Revelsby, CEO, Anoto. “We’re now continuing our strategic march through 2016 with additional investments that will further expand our other business pillars that include solutions across Documents and Data Capture, Business Collaboration, Creative and Learning, combining to form a platform that realizes true multi-surface digital writing and drawing in a collaborative environment.”

Anoto previously held a minority stake in We-Inspire, which is now being fully acquired and integrated into the company’s multi-surface digital writing and drawing platform. The We-Inspire system transforms empty walls into large interactive surfaces teams can use for productivity, collaboration, ideation, and creation. Anoto’s acquisition of We-Inspire is a strategic move to fully integrate the start-up’s software into Anoto’s existing collaboration and Live Wall solutions, which is utilized by the enterprise and creative industries around the globe.

“We’ve been working with Anoto’s digital pens for a decade and this merger will allow us to move beyond where we’ve been focused and open up new ways to interact and collaborate across paper, screens, and wall surfaces,” said Jakob Leitner, co-founder and Head of Design and UX at We-Inspire.

Destiny Wireless was founded in 2002 and became a subsidiary of Anoto in 2011, when the former took control of a majority stake in the start-up through a strategic investment. The acquisition of Destiny includes INKWRX™, a web-based digital data capture platform which allows businesses to go paperless or paper-lite, primarily through the use of Anoto enabled paper or digital forms that seamlessly integrate with a company’s current system and workflow. INKWRX platform and the company’s European operations will be fully integrated into Anoto’s offering to enhance processes related to the capture, digitization and processing of information collected through various input methods.

“We’re proud of the technology that we’ve built together with Anoto since becoming a subsidiary of the company, and it’s now time that we take it to the next level together,” states Edward Belgeonne, Founder and CEO of Destiny Wireless. “The consolidation of our digital forms technology with Anoto’s software and hardware ecosystem will result in great synergy and operational efficiencies, resulting in a more powerful solution for businesses of all types to go paperless.”

Pen Generations, founded in 2011 as a joint venture between Anoto, T-Study, and Amicus, is a leading smartpen and digital writing start-up based in Seoul, South Korea, that develops education and learning products leveraging Anoto’s technology. The company’s products applied Anoto’s dot pattern technology to workbooks and interactive whiteboards in the classroom, supported by complementary apps that allowed individuals, students, and teachers to digitize their handwriting for improved collaboration and productivity. As a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anoto, Pen Generations’ hardware and software development efforts will be consolidated under Anoto operations and its product portfolio will be leveraged across other Anoto geographies and business areas.

“With the full integration of our business into Anoto’s operations, we’ll achieve great synergy by working more closely together in the development of valuable products and services to customers around the globe,” says Dr. Yong Hoon Kang, CEO, Pen Generations. “Together, we’re set to further capitalize on our leadership in the education market with Anoto Enabled content that creates interactions between handwriting, paper and digital devices, to deliver dynamic learning in the classroom and home.”

Anoto Group will be acquiring the remaining stake in Destiny Wireless Ltd (49%), We-Inspire GmbH (75%), and Pen Generations Inc. (85%), for a total consideration in Anoto shares of approximately MSEK 80 (a dilution of approximately 8% at today`s exchange rates and share-price), subject to the approval at the Anoto Extraordinary Shareholder Meeting on March 2nd.

For further information, please contact:

Stein Revelsby, CEO Anoto Group AB, tel. +46 (0)733 45 12 05
Anoto Group AB (publ), org. nr. 556532-3929,
Mobilvägen 10,
SE- 223 62 Lund
Tel. +46 46 540 12 00
www.anoto.com

About Anoto Group AB

Anoto is a global leader in digital writing and drawing solutions. Its technology platform and branded products enable high-precision pen or stylus input on nearly any surface — from capturing and digitizing handwritten notes and business forms on paper to designing, creating and collaborating directly on large interactive displays, whiteboards, and walls up to 24 feet. Anoto, its strategic licensing partners, and developer community offer a broad portfolio of products, applications and services to business, consumer and education markets, including best-in-class digital note-taking, creative solutions, collaborative solutions, classroom learning solutions, and document processing & management. The Anoto Group has over 150 employees and is headquartered in Lund (Sweden), with offices in Norrköping (Sweden), Basingstoke, Guildford and Wetherby (UK), Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Boston (US) and Tokyo (Japan). Anoto’s Livescribe brand is the leading maker of smartpens, which bring notes, words, & ideas to life by connecting pen & paper to the digital world. Anoto is traded on the Small Cap list of NASDAQ OMX Stockholm under ANOT.

For more information about Anoto or Livescribe, please visit www.anoto.com

Follow Anoto on Twitter at: @anoto

About We-Inspire

We-Inspire develops large interactive surfaces with the overall goal of improving communication and collaboration among and across teams. The We-Inspire wall transforms empty walls into seamless interactive surfaces, with software optimized to boost productivity and innovative thinking. Companies like Adobe, BMW and P&G use the collaborative technology to discuss, brainstorm, plan and visualize without sacrificing input-precision or speed. We-Inspire was founded in 2013 by students and researchers from the Media Interaction Lab at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria in Hagenberg, Austria, where the team had been working on interactive tables and walls since 2004.

To learn more about We-Inspire, visit: we-inspire.com

About Destiny Wireless Ltd.

INKWRX™ by Destiny Wireless is a cloud-based digital data capture platform which allows businesses to go paperless or paper-lite; capturing important business information effortlessly using tablets or digital pens. By moving customers from pure paper forms to digitally integrated ones, INKWRX™ reduces paperwork delays and helps build custom workflows that integrate with a company’s current system. Founded in 2002, Destiny became a subsidiary of Anoto Group AB in August 2011.

To learn more about Destiny Wireless and INKWRX™, visit: www.inkwrx.com

About Pen Generations

Pen Generations, Inc. was founded in Seoul, South Korea in 2011 as a joint venture between Anoto, T-Study, and Amicus to develop education and learning products that leverage Anoto’s digital pen technology. Pen Generations’ digital pen products aim to improve personal and classroom productivity by extending Anoto’s patented dot pattern onto education workbooks and interactive whiteboards, and by helping individuals, students and educators integrate the workbook, whiteboard, digital pen, and apps as one seamless experience in meaningful and beneficial ways.

To learn more about Pen Generations, visit: www.pengenerations.com

Press Contact

For Anoto:

press@anoto.com

(+1) 415-955-8500