March 26, 2020
Danish Grazper Technologies, a leading developer of artificial intelligence (AI) software, has just been sold to Yokogawa Electric Corporation, a listed (Nikkei-225) Japanese conglomerate. Grazper develops software for surveillance camera that can recognize and analyse what the camera sees in real time and pass on the information to the customer. The images are not saved but are passed on in the form of sensor data. It requires less bandwidth and can address privacy concerns. Grazper is owned by the two founders, Thomas Jakobsen and David Guldbrandsen respectively, as well as Promentum Equity Partners, a Danish capital fund that invests in Nordic technology companies with global scaling potential. “We are proud to have been part of the first part of Grazper’s journey. Denmark is already a global center for machine learning and artificial intelligence. I have no doubt that this sale will further strengthen Denmark’s position as a place to invest and develop high-tech companies with global potential. It is companies like these that we will continue to develop in Promentum Equity Partners” says partner Irfan Goandal. In the long run, Grazper’s ambition is to revolutionize artificial intelligence by being a leader in real-time, self-learning Artificial Intelligence. Thomas Jakobsen, CEO and co-founder of Grazper is very excited about the potential as part of a large Japanese company. Not least, access to a broad and diverse customer base in several industries is exciting, he explains; “This is a unique opportunity for Grazper to scale the company and achieve global representation. Being a part of Yokogawa gives us a whole other platform to commercialize our solutions. Both in terms of technological capabilities and international sales, this acquisition will give Grazper access to the combined production and sales expertise in Yokogawa as well as their over 100 years of experience in developing and commercializing advanced measurement sensors.” Grazper Technologies, ie. the founders and employees of the company, will continue to be based in Copenhagen, and will thus constitute Yokogawa’s center for research and development of new cutting-edge products based on embedded AI. Promentum Equity Partners I/S was established in 2016 as a collaboration between Promentum Capital and Alternative Equity Partners A / S. The fund is managed by Alternative Equity Partners, a Danish manager of alternative investment funds. “Grazper is a good example of a company that has a globally scalable potential, which is a characteristic that we in the fund place high importance on”, says Lars Tønnesen, director in Alternative Equity Partners, and continues: “The first divestment is always an important milestone for a mutual fund and it is obvious that it will not stop here when we look at the very promising portfolio of companies that are in Promentum Equity Partners. We look forward to continuing the journey”, he concludes.