Main Line Tech Company To Sell For $105M

ColdLight wasn't looking to sell, but PTC came knocking anyway.

In the tech world, making sense of big data can translate into big dollars.

That’s certainly true for ColdLight, which today signed a definitive agreement to be sold for $105 million. The Wayne, Pa.-based company mines data and provides predictive analytics. It has 60 employees.

The buyer was PTC, a Needham, Mass.-based provider of technology platforms and enterprise applications.

The prize in the deal was ColdLight’s Neuron platform, which uses proprietary “machine learning technology” to mine data for patterns. Think about it: Big businesses such as hospitals, and banks store large amounts of data. Finding meaning and patterns in that data has serious value. Any pattern explaining why people get readmitted to the hospital? Any pattern explaining why people leave one bank for another?

ColdLight wasn’t looking to sell, but when PTC (and a few other companies) came knocking, ColdLight listened. The deal was done in a two month timeframe.

“They approached us out of the blue and we think they’re a phenomenal choice,” said Eric Smith, CFO and COO of ColdLight.

Smith said the combined company will keep all employees in the Wayne office.

ThingWorx is a now sister company in Exton. Between the two of us, that’s 200 people between the two organizations,” said Smith. “Hopefully we’ll be the R&D think-tank around Philly area.” He said the combined company expects to build out and grow both organizations.

PTC purchased ThingWorx in late 2013 for $112 million. It also bought Massachusetts based Axeda for $170 million in August 2014.

PTC plans to apply ColdLight technology to its “Internet of Things” business, creating “smart” products that can communicate with one another.

“Not everything happens out of Silicon Valley,” said Smith. “We’re making a loud statement that innovation and tech can be right in the Northeast corridor.”