Providence Equity to acquire Airties

Private equity outfit Providence Equity Partners is to acquire wireless technology outfit Airties.

The WiFi solutions specialist said that its board and principal shareholders, including evergreen equity investor Invus had agreed to acqusition. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Airties said that Providence’s investment will assist it with accelerating growth into new markets globally, as well as funding additional R&D and product innovation, and expanding its sales, marketing, and recruitment efforts globally.

Philippe Alcaras

Founded in 2004, Airties specialises in cloud-based managed in-home Wi-Fi solutions, serving ISPs with a combined footprint of over 80 million households across the world.

Customers include AT&T in the US, Sky in the UK, Deutsche Telekom and Vodafone across Europe, and Telstra in Australia.

Philippe Alcaras, CEO of Airties, said: “We are proud of the leadership position we have achieved and thank our Board and investors for supporting us on this journey. We are excited to work with Providence as Airties continues to build momentum and enter the next stage of its growth journey. We could not have found a better partner to help us accelerate our development globally.”

Evren Bilimer, managing director at Invus and board member of Airties, said: “When my partner, Mario Kaloustian, and I met the founding team of Airties led by Bülent Çelebi and Metin Taşkın in 2010, they had a clear vision for the Internet of the future and centrality of Wi-Fi within it. Over our 12-year journey with the team, Airties has been at the forefront of the Wi-Fi revolution as it transformed its business from a hardware centric business in Turkey to a global software powerhouse both on the edge and the cloud, while also providing the most advanced access points. We are excited to now hand over the baton to the Providence team for the next chapter of Airties.”

Michaël Vervisch, managing director at Providence, said: “We have been impressed by the strength and quality of Airties’ cloud-based managed Wi-Fi solutions and strongly believe its leading software offering, together with its deep expertise in integrating across hardware technologies and operator platforms, positions Airties as a preferred partner for broadband service providers. We see tremendous potential to continue Airties’ growth trajectory by extending its global reach and expanding its offering. Additionally, we believe its culture of innovation and success make it a perfect fit for us. We look forward to partnering with Philippe and his outstanding team by leveraging our deep sector expertise in the next chapter of the company’s journey.”