Chinese firm buys out local startup Adveos
As 2020 draws to a close, another Greek startup has been bought out, joining this year’s long list. Adveos Microelectronic Systems, based in Aigio in the Peloponnese, has just been acquired by Chinese technology firm Beken Corporation for an amount said to reach $7.5 million (about 6.12 million euros).
Although this price seems quite small compared to other acquisitions in 2020, the value of the deal is considerable given that within the next three years the Greek startup is likely to employ some 100 people in Athens, up from 35 today.
Negotiations for the takeover started amid the pandemic and the agreement was completed in August, however the approval of the deal by the Chinese authorities was still pending.
Adveos was founded shortly after capital controls were imposed by the SYRIZA-led government in August 2015. Its focus is on the design of integrated high-technology chips placed in various devices such as laptops, smartphones etc.
“We are a fabless company, as we do not have a production line or factory. We design the integrated circuits that we sell to the market through our research and development center in Halandri,” Chief Executive Giorgos Dimitropoulos tells Kathimerini, referring to the northern Athenian suburb.
“All of our clients are companies that are based abroad, many of them in Israel, in Scandinavian countries such as Finland and Sweden, as well as in France, the United States and China,” he adds.
This is the first takeover carried out by Beken Corp outside China, while also being he first acquisition of a Greek startup in this line of technology by a Chinese peer.
Besides its 35 employees in Athens, Adveos also employs six people in Armenia, while around 70% of its employees are graduates arriving straight from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) or other local universities.
Since 2015 the Greek company has been growing on its own capital, investing more in human resources, while among its plans – before talks about the takeover began – was the construction and promotion of its own chip in the market, a process set to be accelerated after the takeover.
