Global private equity firms TA Associates and LEA Partners today have announced an agreement to merge Chaos, a worldwide leader in photorealistic rendering technology, with Germany’s Enscape, a leader of real-time interactive rendering technology for the AEC industries.
A Comprehensive Leader
The merger of fast-growing AEC-focused Enscape with Chaos, which is headquartered in Bulgaria, will establish a global leader in 3D visualization workflows for multiple industry sectors, from AEC, industrial, and product design verticals, to visual effects (VFX) industry segments like film, broadcast, and animation.
The newly combined company will retain the Chaos name and Peter Mitev, CEO and co-founder of Chaos, and Christian Lang, CEO of Enscape, will share the title of co-CEO for the new company. Vladimir Koylazov, co-founder of Chaos and current head of software operations, will also continue to drive R&D and innovation in a leadership position.
With the help of two private equity VC firms, Chaos and Enscape have merged into one giant visualization technology company.
The merged company will have a combined workforce of 500 employees across the globe. Corporate headquarters for the newly combined company will center in Karlsruhe, Germany, with additional development, support, and sales offices in Sofia (Bulgaria), Prague (Czech Republic), Tokyo (Japan), Seoul (Korea), Los Angeles, and New York (USA).
TA Assoc. + LEA Partners
“Enscape has seen a period of extraordinary growth, outpacing an already fast-growing market. We are thrilled to join forces with Chaos as we seek to further our scale, recognizing that our companies are highly complementary and share an end-to-end product vision,” says Christian Lang. “With the support of LEA and TA, we will significantly increase our investment in growth, technology, and people.”
We find that bringing together Enscape and Chaos offers a unique opportunity to build a tech powerhouse to lead the way in AEC and beyond.
TA Associates was founded in 1968 by Peter Brooke in Boston as a private investment company. In the early 80s, it opened an office in Silicon Valley and then in 2003 opened its office in London. The company has a strong background in venture capital investment in technology companies. LEA Partners is a similar private equity and venture capital company, based in Germany.
“Since our initial investment, we have worked closely with the Enscape management team to grow the company into a leading provider for the AEC industry, and this is only the beginning,” says Christian Roth, Managing Partner at LEA Partners. “We find that bringing together Enscape and Chaos offers a unique opportunity to build a tech powerhouse to lead the way in AEC and beyond.”
“We have been impressed by the growth, high-quality product offerings, and loyal customer base of both Chaos and Enscape,” says Dandl, Principal at TA. “Together, we believe the company can build on its strong momentum to create a global leader in the 3D visualization and design workflow space. In partnership with LEA, we are excited to invest in the company’s future by deepening product capabilities and growing the breadth of offerings and geography.”
New Executive Stewardship
While financial terms were not disclosed, TA will join LEA—Enscape’s current majority shareholder—in the newly combined company, alongside the management of Chaos and Enscape, who will retain a significant minority stake.
As part of the transaction, Sean Flaherty will also become Chairman of the Board of Directors of Chaos. Flaherty was former Chief Strategy Officer at the Nemetschek Group, one of the world’s largest AEC software conglomerates, and before that former CEO of Nemetschek daughter company Vectorworks, Inc. Flaherty was currently Chairman of the Board at Enscape.
The transaction is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to be completed during the first quarter of 2022.