MDA created the Canadarm robotic manipulator. | Credit: MDA
In 2019, The Robot Report tracked 68 mergers and acquisitions for companies in the robotics industry, as of press time. This included 30 mergers and acquisitions through the first half of the year.
In many cases, the companies involved did not disclose the terms of their deal. For example, self-driving car maker Waymo recently acquired U.K.-based startup Latent Logic, but it did not reveal the purchase price. So the list consists only of mergers and acquisitions for which we know the terms.
The chart below is ordered by transaction amount. It is no surprise that the autonomous vehicle industry claimed the most expensive deal of the year. Japan-based Renesas Electronics acquired Integrated Device Technology to deepen its push into semiconductors for self-driving cars. Renesas is second to NXP Semiconductors NV in auto-related chips, with 30% of the global market.
Three of the top 10 mergers and acquisitions involved surgical robotics companies. The combined total of the deals is $5.3 billion, or about $1.76 billion per deal. Johnson & Johnson’s acquisition of Auris Health also includes an additional $2.35 billion in milestone-based contingent payments, so the total value of that deal could reach approximately $5.75 billion when all is said and done.
Shopify acquired autonomous mobile robot (AMR) developer 6 River Systems for $450 million. It was the first major acquisition in the space since Amazon purchased Kiva Systems in 2012 for $775. Two of the three major acquisitions in the broader collaborative robotics industry were AMR solution providers. Shopify’s acquisition is further evidence the AMR market is on the verge of exponential growth in 2020.
Perhaps the most interesting of the mergers and acquisitions is Maxar selling its Canadian space robotics business, MDA, to Northern Private Capital for $765 million. Maxar retained its U.S.-based space robotics division that develops robotic hardware used in NASA’s Mars 2020 rover.
MDA was founded in 1969 as MacDonald, Dettwiler, and Associates and became a leading Canadian space company. The Canadian government blocked a proposed acquisition of MDA by American company ATK in 2008. MDA’s Canadian operations developed the Canadarm and Canadarm2 robotic manipulators used on the space shuttle and the International Space Station, respectively.
Here is a look at 10 of the largest mergers and acquisitions from the robotics industry in 2019. You can read coverage of each acquisition by clicking the “Read Story” links in the chart below. To stay updated about the latest robotics investments and acquisitions, check out The Robot Report‘s Investment Section.
10 largest robotics M&As of 2019
| Acquirer | Acquired | Amount | Date | Technology | Coverage |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Integrated Device Technology | Renesas | $6.7B | 3/30 | Autonomous vehicles | Story |
| J&J | Auris Health | $3.4B | 2/13 | Surgical robotics | Story |
| Hitachi | JR Automation | $1.43B | 4/24 | Industrial integrator | Story |
| Siemens | Corindus Vascular Robotics | $1.1B | 8/8 | Surgical robotics | Story |
| Northern Private Capital | MDA | $765M | 12/30 | Space robotics | Story |
| Stryker | Mobius Imaging & Cardan Robotics | $500M | 9/6 | Surgical robotics | Story |
| PTC | Onshape | $470M | 10/23 | CAD software | Story |
| Shopify | 6 River Systems | $450M | 9/9 | Mobile robots | Story |
| FLIR Systems | Endeavor Robotics | $385M | 2/12 | Military robotics | Story |
| Kaman | Bal Seal Engineering | $330M | 11/5 | Robotics components | Story |
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