SAP Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of Germany-based software conglomerate SAP, announced its intention to acquire the US-based 3-D technology company Right Hemisphere on Tuesday.
SAP first invested in Right Hemisphere in April 2007, after which the two firms signed a strategic agreement in June 2008, enabling SAP to incorporate Right Hemisphere’s technology into its Product Lifestyle Management application.
Right Hemisphere picked up $10m in funding, in April 2009, but since the investors were undisclosed it is unclear whether SAP Ventures was among them.
Prior to that, Right Hemisphere’s 2005 series B round raised $12m from US-based semiconductor firm NVidia, and venture capital firms Sutter Hill Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Sequoia had also previously participated in Right Hemisphere’s $5.6m series A round in 2003, though both rounds included contributions from several angel investors.
Peter Maier, general manager and head of Line of Business Solutions at SAP, said: "Right Hemisphere technology empowers customers to visualise business processes from design to manufacturing through sales, operations and service, helping people to easily cooperate and communicate using the most powerful human sense – vision. By bringing 3-D to the enterprise and enriching it with business data, we’re setting a new standard in helping companies achieve more efficiency, accuracy and flexibility across the value chain."
Once incorporated into all SAP’s products, Right Hemisphere’s technology will enable users to access animated three-dimensional views of products and assets.