Cleantech exit – Samsung buys Novaled from Dresden

Congratulations to Novaled and its founders and investors which include eCapital, Germany’s most active cleantech VC. This is a fantastic exit that brings hope and money to the cleantech startup industry in Europe. Samsung Cheil Industries (aka Samsung Chemical) and Samsung Electronics buy 50% and 40% respectively of the Dresden-based late stage startup for a total of €260M of which €30M are bound to reaching further growth targets. Corporate VC Samsung Ventures maintains their 10% stake in the transaction. Founded in 2001, Novaled is a world leader in OLED (Organic LED) materials. Following a fabless strategy from the beginning, Samsung is Novaled’s biggest customer and it comes as no suprise that they turn out to be the acquirer. Novaled’s revenues grew from €10M in 2010 to €26M in 2012. Thus, Novaled’s valuation at exit is 10 times the 2012 revenues or, in other words, the price sales ratio is 10.

ECO11 Berlin Harry Boehme Novaled

In early 2011, we interviewed Novaled’s co-founder and Chief Scientist Jan Blochwitz-Nimod in Dresden and invited CFO Harry Boehme (photos) to speak at Ecosummit Berlin 2011. The videos embedded below are the best way to learn more about Novaled’s technology and business potential. At the time, Novaled was hoping to IPO at NASDAQ but, as of today, we know that the strategic interest of the Republic of Korea (aka Samsung) was stronger. The other co-founders include Martin Pfeiffer of Heliatek and Karl Leo of TU Dresden. After 12 years of hard work, all founders and investors deserve a nice return on investment. Now we encourage you to reinvest a fair part of your returns to accelerate the German cleantech industry even further.

ECO11 Berlin Harry Boehme Novaled


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