Silver Lake Sumeru Announces Investment in PrimeSense, Leading Israeli Technology Provider

TEL AVIV, Israel & MENLO PARK, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Silver Lake Sumeru announced today that it has made a strategic investment in PrimeSense Inc. (“PrimeSense”), the global leader in sensing and recognition technologies for consumer markets. The transaction marks Silver Lake’s first investment in Israel’s growing technology sector. Financial terms were not disclosed.

“PrimeSense looks forward to leveraging Silver Lake’s deep technology expertise and strategic insight as we continue to innovate and grow.”

Through its proprietary Natural Interaction Technology, PrimeSense enables 3D mapping and gesture recognition capabilities in consumer electronics such as televisions, gaming systems, and personal computers. Tracking body movements and gestures, PrimeSense technology sets a new paradigm by allowing consumers to operate electronic devices without a handheld device or a remote control.

Silver Lake Sumeru is the $1.1 billion middle market tech-focused fund within Silver Lake. Silver Lake manages over $14 billion in assets and is the global leader in private investments in technology and technology-enabled industries. Silver Lake’s portfolio companies include global technology leaders such as Skype and Avago, as well as emerging leaders such as Power-One and i2.

“PrimeSense has developed game-changing technologies that revolutionize the way consumers interact with living room entertainment and video communication devices,” said Paul Mercadante, Managing Director of Silver Lake Sumeru. “The company is the global leader in gesture technology with a talented management team, experienced board, and partnerships with some of the world’s premier technology companies. We look forward to working with PrimeSense to realize its significant growth potential.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Silver Lake Sumeru as our investor and partner and appreciate this strong vote of confidence in both our team and the adoption of Natural Interaction technology,” said Inon Beracha, PrimeSense’s CEO. “PrimeSense looks forward to leveraging Silver Lake’s deep technology expertise and strategic insight as we continue to innovate and grow.”

Ajay Shah, Founding Managing Director of Silver Lake Sumeru said, “PrimeSense represents our first investment in Israel’s dynamic technology sector. We look forward to partnering with PrimeSense management and will continue to seek out investment opportunities in leading global technology companies in Israel and in emerging markets around the world.”

As part of Silver Lake Sumeru’s investment, Paul Mercadante will join PrimeSense’s board of directors.

About PrimeSense

PrimeSense is the leader in sensing and recognition solutions, enabling consumer devices to “see” environments and allowing users to control and interact naturally with those devices in a simple and intuitive way. PrimeSense offers affordable solutions for consumer markets including visual/home computing, interactive entertainment and consumer electronics. PrimeSense products include the PS1080 System on Chip and NITE middleware, as well as the PrimeSensor 3D sensor, plus cross-platform enabling software to make application development easy and intuitive. Headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel, with offices in North America, Japan, Singapore, Korea, China and Taiwan, PrimeSense is a privately held company. For more information, please visit: www.primesense.com or follow on Twitter @goprimesense.

About Silver Lake Sumeru

Silver Lake Sumeru is a global leader in private investments in middle-market technology companies. The Silver Lake Sumeru team applies fundamental operating insight, deep technology sector expertise, and world-class investing skills to acquire and manage companies. Silver Lake Sumeru’s portfolio includes sector-leading technology companies such as AVI-SPL, i2, Locaweb, Mobile Messenger, Power-One, Spansion and Talend. Silver Lake Sumeru is the middle-market investment fund of Silver Lake, the global leader in private investments in technology and technology-enabled industries. For more information, please visit www.silverlake.com.