German software giant snaps up London software firm in multimillion euro deal

Germany’s second largest software company has acquired London-based technology firm my-Channels.

Software AG is said to have picked up 100 per cent of the Shoreditch-headquartered business for a figure in the region of the “low double digits of million euros”.

my-Channels develops what is called low-latency messaging software, which allows hundreds of thousands of messages to be sent to hundreds of clients within the blink of an eye. The company’s current revenue is in the “low single digits of millions of euros”.

The company’s Nirvana software is particular popular in the financial sector, where it is used to stream data to partners and clients in real time. Banks which account for 40 per cent of the global foreign exchange (FX) market volume currently use the software.

Nirvana’s messaging capabilities can be used on Apple, Android, BlackBerry and Windows mobiles, as well as a number of platforms available on desktops and laptops.

Software AG believes Nirvana will work well with the next generation of cloud, mobile, social and big data applications.

Darren Roos, chief operating officer at Software AG, said: “The acquisition of my-Channels greatly enhances Software AG’s ability to provide the flexible infrastructure needed by our customers to achieve business process excellence.

“The move will support Software AG’s product strategy and complement our existing integration technology.

“We look forward to welcoming the my-Channels team to Software AG. The wide range of skills and expertise they bring will provide a huge boost to our continued growth.”

my-Channels chief executive officer Paul Brant, who founded the company in 1999, said the deal made perfect sense for the future of the business.

Brant said: “From the outset of our conversations with Software AG it was very clear that the incorporation of my-Channels Nirvana into Software AG’s existing product suite made complete sense.”

He added: “I am very confident that this acquisition, and the technology integration that will follow, will also make sense to both my-Channels and Software AG customers.

“The combination of the two product portfolios will open many new application areas that will be of great interest to our customers.”