Perforce Software Acquires Methodics!

This has got to be one of the most interesting and disruptive EDA acquisitions I have seen in some time. Another one that comes to mind is Siemens acquiring Mentor Graphics. We have been covering EDA PLM companies since the start of SemiWiki and have worked with most of them. If I had to keep score I would say it’s about even but it was just a matter of time before one of them busted loose, absolutely.

The press release is included but first let’s take a look at the Perforce company history based on their Wikipedia page to better understand what this acquisition really means and we can do a Q&A in the comments section.

• Perforce Software was founded in 1995 in Alameda, California by Christopher Seiwald, a software developer and computer science graduate from UC Berkeley. Its first product was also called Perforce, and was a version control system allowing companies to collaborate on large software projects by keeping track of changes to both the source code and binary files.
• In June 2013, the company released Helix Swarm, a tool for developers working in different geographical areas to collaborate on code review.
• In June 2014, the company released a version of its Perforce versioning engine, by then known as P4D, which supported concurrency, the ability of a program to run multiple parts concurrently.
• In March 2015, the company renamed its product as Perforce Helix. In October, the company collaborated with GitLab to release GitSwarm, a software tool that combined git distributed workflow for developers with Perforce’s single code repository.
• In February 2016, Seiwald sold the company to investment group Summit Partners. The company headquarters was relocated to Minneapolis. In November, Perforce announced the acquisition of Seapine Software, a provider of application lifecycle management (ALM) tools. Seapine’s TestTrack ALM software was rebranded as Helix ALM.
• In September 2017, the company acquired Uppsala, Sweden-based Hansoft, a developer of Agile planning software. Also in September, Perforce announced it had acquired Finnish repository management services company Deveo. Deveo’s products were merged into Perforce’s Helix TeamHub, its first solo venture for Git-based development teams.
• In January 2018, Summit Partners sold Perforce to private equity firm Clearlake Capital. In May, Perforce acquired UK-based Programming Research (PRQA), a static code analysis firm.
• In December 2018, Perforce announced the acquisition of Perfecto, a market leader in cloud-based automated mobile and web application test software solutions.
• In January 2019, Perforce announced the acquisition of Rogue Wave Software, a software company with a focus on development tools for high-performance computing.
• In April 2019, private equity firm Francisco Partners acquired 50% of Perforce, becoming an equal partner with Clearlake Capital.
• In July of 2020, Perforce announced the acquisition of San Francisco based Methodics.

Perforce Software Acquires Methodics, Expanding DevOps Portfolio

Perforce Continues to Grow Platform Already Used by Top Semiconductor Companies

MINNEAPOLIS, SAN FRANCISCO, and SANTA MONICA, July 20, 2020 – Perforce Software, Inc. (“Perforce”), a provider of solutions to enterprise teams requiring productivity, visibility, and scale along the development lifecycle, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P. (together with its affiliates, “Clearlake”) and Francisco Partners, today announced it has acquired Methodics Inc. (“Methodics”), a leading provider of intellectual property lifecycle management and traceability solutions for the enterprise. The addition of Methodics  further distinguishes Perforce in the DevOps market as a solution provider uniquely addressing the needs of some of the largest technology teams in the world facing extreme scale, time to market, and quality imperatives. Terms were not disclosed.

Perforce and Methodics previously had a strategic partnership in place, providing a fully integrated solution to manage IP from design all the way through production and reuse in the semiconductor industry. Many of the world’s top semiconductor companies already leverage Perforce and Methodics for electronic design and data management.

“The semiconductor and embedded software design markets continue to expand, especially as they serve growing AI, automotive, cloud, and IoT markets,” said Mark Ties, Perforce CEO. “Together with Methodics, Perforce will enable these markets to drive faster time to market, higher quality, greater operational efficiency, and increased security and compliance at scale. We are also excited about the opportunity to extend this joint solution into gaming, automotive, and other industries.”

“The importance of collaboration between multisite and multi-geographic design teams continues to intensify. Methodics solutions enable critical collaboration while assuring full traceability and reuse of important design assets and their associated metadata,” said Simon Butler, Methodics CEO. “We are excited to join the Perforce team, and we are confident that this acquisition will enable us to meet the needs of the semiconductor and embedded systems markets, as well as gaming, automotive, and beyond.”

“Maxlinear has been using Perforce Helix and Methodics IP life cycle management solutions for the past few years to increase our productivity and introduce a IP reuse methodology at Maxlinear” said Paolo Miliozzi, Vice President, SoC Technology at MaxLinear.  “We are looking forward to the solutions that the combined companies will be able to deliver to us moving forward as MaxLinear continues to grow.”

About Perforce
Perforce powers innovation at unrivaled scale. With a portfolio of scalable DevOps solutions, we help modern enterprises overcome complex product development challenges by improving productivity, visibility, and security throughout the product lifecycle. Our portfolio includes solutions for Agile planning & ALM, API management, automated mobile & web testing, embeddable analytics, open source support, repository management, static & dynamic code analysis, version control, and more. With over 20,000 customers, Perforce is trusted by the world’s leading brands to drive their business critical technology development. For more information, visit www.perforce.com.

About Methodics
Methodics is recognized as the premier provider of IP Lifecycle Management (IPLM) and traceability solutions for the Enterprise. Methodics’ customers benefit from the products’ ability to enable high-performance analog/mixed signal, digital, software, and SOC design collaboration across multi-site and multi-geographic design teams and to track the usage of their important design assets. The company is headquartered in San Francisco, California, and has additional offices and representatives in the U.S., Europe, Israel, China, Taiwan, and Korea.  For more information, visit www.methodics.com.

About Clearlake
Clearlake is a leading private investment firm founded in 2006. With a sector-focused approach, the firm seeks to partner with world-class management teams by providing patient, long-term capital to dynamic businesses that can benefit from Clearlake’s operational improvement approach, O.P.S.® The firm’s core target sectors are technology, industrials, and consumer. Clearlake currently has approximately $24 billion of assets under management and its senior investment principals have led or co-led over 200 investments. More information is available at www.clearlake.com.

About Francisco Partners
Francisco Partners is a leading global private equity firm that specializes in investments in technology and technology-enabled businesses. Since its launch 20 years ago, Francisco Partners has raised more than $24 billion in committed capital and invested in more than 275 technology companies, making it one of the most active and longstanding investors in the technology industry. The firm invests in opportunities where its deep sectoral knowledge and operational expertise can help companies realize their full potential. For more information on Francisco Partners, please visit www.franciscopartners.com.

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