A binding agreement has been signed by Siemens Mobility to acquire Sqills, a Netherlands-based provider of cloud-based inventory management, reservation and ticketing software for public transport operators.
Sqills has developed S3 Passenger as a scalable platform that enables rail and bus operators to replace their legacy reservation systems with a state-of-the-art, online booking system that increases the utilization and availability of passenger transportation. This technology adds an important digital solution to Siemens Mobility’s software portfolio and bolsters its ability to provide the products and services that helps increase the overall usage and convenience of public transportation. The agreed purchase price is €550 million (US$646.6 million) plus an earn out.
“The acquisition of Sqills is a perfect example of how Siemens combines the real and digital worlds to empower its customers in their transformation. At the same time, Sqills supports our own growth path for digital services and is a great example of applying our capital allocation criteria through targeted acquisitions. It also fits perfectly to our recently announced focus on generating recurring revenue through resilient business models such as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS),” said Roland Busch, president and CEO of Siemens AG.
Michael Peter, CEO of Siemens Mobility, added, “To significantly increase passengers on the rails and reach climate targets by 2030, we need to provide passengers with a more optimized process that allows them to seamlessly identify and utilize all offered train services. The acquisition of Sqills and its easy to implement SaaS inventory, reservation and ticketing platform gives us the ability to achieve exactly that. Furthermore, combining the Sqills booking platform and the Hacon solutions provide a comprehensive offering for operators to manage their key travel processes, including trip searching and yield management.”
Together with Hacon, eos.uptrade, Bytemark and Padam Mobility, Sqills’ S3 Passenger will become part of an interconnected software portfolio where a wide variety of services for public transport are brought together. In addition, with its Hacon trip planning and MaaS software, Siemens Mobility can now provide operators with an enhanced SaaS offering to manage their core processes.
Founded in 2002 in Enschede, Netherlands, Sqills currently employs 160 people and forecasts revenue for calendar year 2022 of around €40 million (US$47 million) with a sharply growing scalable SaaS-business model. Sqills has 33 operators across nine countries. Sqills will be managed as a separate legal entity and wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Mobility, a structure that will allow it to strengthen its leading position in offering innovative, smart and comprehensive mobility solutions.
“Joining Siemens Mobility’s growing business and software portfolio for intermodal and connected travel is a tremendous opportunity that allows Sqills to advance its plans to expand beyond Europe into Asia Pacific and the Americas as well as its ongoing investment in team, product and existing long term operator partnerships. Together with a strong and trusted international partner like Siemens Mobility, we'll be even better equipped to drive the mobility software business and optimization of rail and bus travel on a global scale with local representation,” said Bart van Munster, board member and co-founder of Sqills.
The acquisition is expected to be EPS accretive pre-PPA in the second year after closing. Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022.
