Private equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. ("THL"), BMW i Ventures and Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP) have invested $130 million in Kinexon. With the funding, Kinexon will accelerate the development of its automation technology and continue its expansion in North America and Europe.
Kinexon provides cloud software that captures, optimizes and automates processes in manufacturing, logistics, and sports. Companies thus improve productivity as well as sustainability and reduce costs in manufacturing and logistics. In sports, Kinexon’s automated real-time content generation enables the analysis of athletic performance as well as the enrichment of sports broadcasts with novel data, for example for augmented reality applications. Through its work with FIFA and 80 percent of NBA teams in the field of live player and ball tracking, Kinexon enables real-time insights into conditioning, performance and game strategy.
Dennis Nikles, CEO of Deutsche Telekom IoT GmbH (DT IoT), puts the investment by Telekom's strategic investment fund into context: "Deutsche Telekom's strategic investment in Kinexon strengthens the IoT partnership between our two companies, through which we offer manufacturing customers real-time location-based automation solutions. Deutsche Telekom's 5G capabilities also pave the way for co-development opportunities between our two companies. We are excited to continue partnering with such an innovative company."
