Softkey found a non-core investor
The company DEPO Computers announced the acquisition of an online software store Softkey . “SoftKey's business is seamlessly integrated into the DEPO Computers business, since this company sells programs installed on DEPO brand computers,” said Sergey Eskin, DEPO CEO. “The work of the two companies in the same chain will allow us to expand the list of proposed software, improve the quality of customer service and generate significant growth in revenues coming to the company after the sale of a personal computer.”
The company DEPO is one of the largest Russian collectors of personal computers, part of the IBS group. The Softkey store was created in 2001 by Felix Muchnik. Initially, the store was engaged in the distribution of shareware-programs (software that is free to download, but paid registration is required for full-fledged use), and later engaged in the sale of boxed software products. Representative offices of the store are opened in Israel, Poland and a number of CIS countries.
“Entry into DEPO Computers will strengthen our company's capabilities in the field of physical electronic distribution and allow us to take advantage of DEPO Computers' extensive developments in the field of CRM and other web services,” commented Felix Muchnik. Softkey will continue its work as a separate structure, and Mr. Muchnik will remain its co-owner.
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Although Softkey shows quite good financial results (last year its turnover was $ 5 million), market participants remind that Mr. Muchnik has been looking for investors for a long time. “To work according to the classical scheme, when the shareware registrar is engaged in promotion of small developers, Softkey failed,” notes Alexander Chachava, president of the LETA-IT Company . - In Russia, a private user is not ready to pay for software: Russian shareware developers are guided by the Western market, while compatriots often donate their products for free. As a result, 60% of Softkey's turnover comes from the distribution of products of a number of major companies (ABBYY, Kaspersky Lab, etc.), which already cooperate abroad with large foreign registrars. And if these registrars go to Russia, Russian sales will also be transferred to them as well. ”
The first contenders for the purchase of Softkey were just foreign recorders. In particular, intensive negotiations with Softkey led one of the largest participants in this market - Digital River . However, in the end, the Russian computer assembler became a new investor. The amount of this transaction is not disclosed. Valery Gasratov, spokesman for the eHouse holding, does not rule out that, given the prospects for the forthcoming cooperation with Depo, Mr. Muchnik could transfer the softkey for free. “Softkey has received many new features, for example, the integration of a special agent into the pre-installed software of Depo computers,” Mr. Gasratov said. “In this way, Softkey will be able to increase the number of its corporate clients, whose share so far is only 25%, and which are much more solvent than private ones.”
Depo will be able to diversify its business through the purchase of Softkey. “IBS, together with its subsidiaries, is going to hold an IPO, and the presence of a software business may increase its capitalization,” Mr. Chachava notes. “Other IT companies that are preparing for IPOs, for example, Compulink and Asbis, are doing the same now.”
The company DEPO is one of the largest Russian collectors of personal computers, part of the IBS group. The Softkey store was created in 2001 by Felix Muchnik. Initially, the store was engaged in the distribution of shareware-programs (software that is free to download, but paid registration is required for full-fledged use), and later engaged in the sale of boxed software products. Representative offices of the store are opened in Israel, Poland and a number of CIS countries.
“Entry into DEPO Computers will strengthen our company's capabilities in the field of physical electronic distribution and allow us to take advantage of DEPO Computers' extensive developments in the field of CRM and other web services,” commented Felix Muchnik. Softkey will continue its work as a separate structure, and Mr. Muchnik will remain its co-owner.
')
Although Softkey shows quite good financial results (last year its turnover was $ 5 million), market participants remind that Mr. Muchnik has been looking for investors for a long time. “To work according to the classical scheme, when the shareware registrar is engaged in promotion of small developers, Softkey failed,” notes Alexander Chachava, president of the LETA-IT Company . - In Russia, a private user is not ready to pay for software: Russian shareware developers are guided by the Western market, while compatriots often donate their products for free. As a result, 60% of Softkey's turnover comes from the distribution of products of a number of major companies (ABBYY, Kaspersky Lab, etc.), which already cooperate abroad with large foreign registrars. And if these registrars go to Russia, Russian sales will also be transferred to them as well. ”
The first contenders for the purchase of Softkey were just foreign recorders. In particular, intensive negotiations with Softkey led one of the largest participants in this market - Digital River . However, in the end, the Russian computer assembler became a new investor. The amount of this transaction is not disclosed. Valery Gasratov, spokesman for the eHouse holding, does not rule out that, given the prospects for the forthcoming cooperation with Depo, Mr. Muchnik could transfer the softkey for free. “Softkey has received many new features, for example, the integration of a special agent into the pre-installed software of Depo computers,” Mr. Gasratov said. “In this way, Softkey will be able to increase the number of its corporate clients, whose share so far is only 25%, and which are much more solvent than private ones.”
Depo will be able to diversify its business through the purchase of Softkey. “IBS, together with its subsidiaries, is going to hold an IPO, and the presence of a software business may increase its capitalization,” Mr. Chachava notes. “Other IT companies that are preparing for IPOs, for example, Compulink and Asbis, are doing the same now.”
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/4879/
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