British product design and manufacture group acquired by US-based Pivot

WideBlue, a UK product design and development house, has been acquired by Kansas-based Pivot International.

Pivot International has bought a majority equity stake in the company for an undisclosed sum.

Based in Glasgow, WideBlue specialises in prototyping, full scale manufacture and commercialisation. The company was established in 2006 as a management buyout from the Polaroid Corporation’s European research and development division working on the company flagship instant camera range and related products. Since then the company has been delivering hundreds of projects for a variety of organisations from start-ups and university spin-outs to multinational corporations.

The company is frequently engaged in collaborative projects working with European research organisations and universities, especially in the areas of imaging, optoelectronics and bio-medical engineering. The skill set in-house ranges from physics, optics, electronics and software through to mechanical engineering, prototyping, manufacture and supply chain management.

WideBlue now has a multi-disciplinary workforce of 15 engineers many of whom have multiple degrees in electronics, physics, product design, engineering and production. The company has won numerous awards for product design including a European Design Award in 2017 for the development of a mobile phone ophthalmoscope for client Peek Vision. It has also won accolades for its work on the I-1 instant digital camera for The Impossible Project.

Founded in Kansas City in 1972, Pivot offers services in electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, software design, industrial design, project management, contract manufacturing, electronic manufacturing services (EMS), prototyping, supply chain management, data management, business development, and regulatory compliance.

Russell Overend , managing director, WideBlue, comments: “We have been in discussions with Pivot for the past 12 months and I am pleased to say we have agreed the terms of the acquisition. Pivot were looking for a strategic partner to have a presence in Europe. Our skill sets, commercial and management capability are very much complementary. With Pivot’s contract manufacturing and component sourcing facilities in the USA and Far East we can now offer our clients a complete end-to-end solution going from the initial product idea to full scale production. Finding an overseas manufacturing facility can be a hit or miss affair; now we can offer full project management control and complete quality assurance to our growing portfolio of clients.”

Mark Dohnalek CEO of Pivot International said: “We looked at several options for setting up a European operation but WideBlue literally blew us away with its level of technical, engineering and commercial expertise. They have a superb track record of helping their customers take an idea and make the product a reality and commercial success. Their solutions are creative, innovative and novel and their team in Glasgow is one of the most highly qualified that I have come across during my 40 years in business. We are especially interested in WideBlue’s specialist expertise in optical technology which is world-class. It is very much a niche in the engineering world and the skills are highly sought after for applications such as IoT, security systems and medical devices. We look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with WideBlue.”

The acquisition of WideBlue brings the total headcount at Pivot to 400 across the globe including an engineering team of 50. WideBlue is the company’s fifth acquisition in the past 24-months and Pivot has seen its revenues grow by 82.4 per cent from 2013 to 2016.