Press Release | Technology & Business Solutions (TABS)

IoT Automation Pioneer KINEXON Raises $130m in Funding Round Led by Thomas H. Lee Partners

April 26, 2022

Funding enables KINEXON to accelerate international expansion and scale its operating system for connected and automated operations
BMW i Ventures and Telekom Innovation Pool co-invest and announce commercial partnerships

MUNICH & BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–KINEXON, a leader in connected and automated processes, today announced a successful $130 Million Series A fundraise. Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”), a premier private equity firm investing in growth companies, led the round with co-investments from BMW i Ventures and Telekom Innovation Pool (TIP), Deutsche Telekom’s strategic investment fund. KINEXON will leverage the investment to accelerate the development of its automation technology and to continue its expansion in North America and Europe.

Headquartered in Munich, Germany, KINEXON provides cloud software that captures, optimizes and automates processes in manufacturing, logistics, and sports. Operating under two core segments, KINEXON Industries and KINEXON Sports & Media, the company’s full Internet of Things (“IoT”) stack product portfolio combines software with any sensors and connected devices, creating an end-to-end solution for automation. KINEXON Industries’ technology enables companies like BMW, Continental, Siemens, and Airbus to improve productivity as well as sustainability and reduce costs in manufacturing and logistics. In sports, KINEXON’s automated real-time content generation enables the analysis of athletic performance as well as the enrichment of sports broadcasts with novel data, for example for augmented reality applications. Through its work with FIFA and 80% of the NBA teams in the field of live player and ball tracking, KINEXON enables real-time insights into conditioning, performance, and game strategy.

Dr. Oliver Trinchera, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of KINEXON, said, “Our vision is of a world in perfect flow. Wherever assets, people or operations are in motion, we can improve and automate the underlying processes. The investment round will provide us with growth capital to scale and further expand our leading operating system for process automation. We also plan to expand geographically to meet the growing needs of our customers across the world.”

Michael Kaczmarek, Managing Director at THL, said, “KINEXON has defined a new category within IoT and orchestration software. Its cloud platform can gather localization data in real time and translate it simultaneously into powerful actions for customers. We are excited to support co-founders Oliver Trinchera and Alexander Hüttenbrink in scaling KINEXON and believe they have the vision and track record to define the future of automation technology in industry and sports.”

THL invested in KINEXON through both its flagship Fund IX and its Automation Fund, the private equity industry’s first fund dedicated to automation-related businesses. Mr. Kaczmarek and Jim Carlisle, Managing Director and Head of THL’s Automation Fund, will join KINEXON’s Board of Directors alongside Michael Süß, Chairperson of the Oerlikon Board of Directors and former Member of the Siemens AG Managing Board, and Carl-Peter Forster, former member of the BMW Board of Management and former CEO of General Motors Europe and Tata Motors.

Milan Nedeljković, Board Member for Production at BMW AG said of the solution, which goes by the name IPS-i at BMW, “Automotive production at the BMW Group is a lot like top-flight sport in that it’s about high-performance processes. The real-time locating platform IPS-i forms the backbone for fully digitalizing our production. It’s an innovative operating system that makes our highly complex manufacturing processes transparent and raises efficiency in production even further. We are now intensifying our well-established, long-standing partnership with KINEXON by acquiring a stake in them. Together, we want to set new standards in digital production steering.”

Dennis Nikles, CEO of Deutsche Telekom IoT GmbH said, “Deutsche Telekom’s strategic investment in KINEXON strengthens the IoT partnership between our two companies, through which we offer manufacturing customers real-time location-based automation solutions. Deutsche Telekom’s 5G capabilities also pave the way for co-development opportunities between our two companies. We are excited to continue partnering with such an innovative company.”

About Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P.
Thomas H. Lee Partners, L.P. (“THL”) is a premier private equity firm investing in middle-market growth companies exclusively in three sectors: Financial Services, Healthcare and Technology & Business Solutions. THL couples deep sector expertise through our Identified Sector Opportunity (“ISO”) process with dedicated internal operating resources from our Strategic Resource Group (“SRG”) to transform and build great companies of lasting value in partnership with management. The Firm’s domain expertise and resources help to build great companies with an aim to accelerate growth, improve operations and drive long-term sustainable value. Since 1974, THL has raised more than $30 billion of equity capital, invested in over 160 companies and completed more than 500 add-on acquisitions representing an aggregate enterprise value at acquisition of over $210 billion. For more information, visit THL.COM.

About KINEXON
KINEXON is a global technology leader that develops groundbreaking sensing and software solutions for the Internet of Things (IoT). KINEXON Industries implements specialized real-time IoT solutions for Industry 4.0, in order to capture, analyze and automate manufacturing and logistics processes for industry leaders such as BMW and Continental. More than 400 teams and leagues worldwide rely on KINEXON Sports & Media in the areas of performance tracking, analytics, and fan engagement. Headquartered in Munich, Germany, KINEXON has grown to more than 300 employees across offices in Munich and Chicago. For more information, visit WWW.KINEXON.COM