A Worthy CAD Translation Business Rescued by Acquisition

While conducting background research for my story on ITI TranscenData's acquisition of Proficiency, I stumbled on a story titled "VC-Backed Bust: Proficiency Inc." (June 2009) from Private Equity Hub (peHUB), a site that tracks venture capital activities. In it, peHUB editor Dan Primack suggested "Proficiency Inc., a Marlborough, Mass.-based provider of product knowledge integration and CAD interoperability solutions to manufacturers and their suppliers, appears to have ceased operations." Citing an unnamed source, he reported, "[the company] is in talks to sell its assets to a strategic buyer in Ohio."

Proficiency keeps various global offices, including one in Marlborough, Massachusetts, but the company's development headquarter is in Jerusalem, Israel. The company is known for its Collaboration Gateway product, which claims to "automatically converts up to 95% of a CAD model depending upon the compatibility in features between the CAD system."

Just two months ago, Dassault Systemes, one of the leading PLM (product lifecycle management) software vendors, signed up to use Proficiency's technology in its Dassault Systemes CAD Data Migration Factory initiative, a service to let Dassault customers "maintain the product knowledge accumulated in their CAD models, including features, history tree, and manufacturing data, when moving from diverse engineering and manufacturing environments to the CATIA platform."

This week, ITI TranscenData, a Ohio-based company specializing in CAD interoperability, snatched up Proficiency for an undisclosed amount. In the press release, ITI's chairman and CEO Mike Lemon said, “Proficiency is a strategic acquisition that extends our interoperability capabilities and strengthens ITI’s overall focus of product development productivity."

Since new releases of major CAD programs are a challenge to keep up with, the maintenance of a CAD translation technology has to be a significant burden, especially in this economy. Proficiency is a recognized name in the CAD industry, one that has been around since 1998. The company announced what appeared to be its last round of capital infusion, $4.25 Million, in February 2008.

ITI TranscenData's acquisition might have been a timely rescue of a worthy CAD translation technology.

For more on this topic, read "ITI TranscenData Picks Up Proficiency Inc.