OSIsoft Announces SoftBank Investment

SoftBank’s equity stake purchased from OSIsoft’s venture investors

The two companies will collaborate on IIoT services and solutions for
telecommunications and other industries

SAN LEANDRO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#OSIsoft—OSIsoft
LLC, a leader in operational intelligence, today announced that
SoftBank Group (“SoftBank”) has acquired a significant minority equity
interest in the company.

The transaction is part of SoftBank’s strategy to invest in companies
laying the foundational infrastructure for the next stage of the
Information Revolution. SoftBank believes OSIsoft embodies this
strategy, having been a longtime leader in enabling large industries to
harness the massive amounts of data generated by their operational
technology assets.

As part of the investment, OSIsoft and SoftBank will collaborate on
developing new products and services enabling digital transformation and
the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT), and strengthening OSIsoft’s
presence in new markets.

“We are helping some of the world’s most innovative companies get
smarter about how they use their data. Our industrial customers and
utilities demand the highest levels of service and reliability. That’s
why our focus has been, and will always be, on customer success and
satisfaction,” said Dr. J. Patrick Kennedy, CEO and founder of OSIsoft.
“Collaborating with SoftBank will enable us to bring the concept of data
infrastructure to more markets like telecommunications as well as
strengthen our commitment to our customers. We’re very much looking
forward to working together.”

“Industrial IoT is a central force in the digitization of the industrial
economy. OSIsoft powers the key underpinnings of this digital
transformation. OSIsoft’s relentless customer focus and masterfully
engineered data infrastructure solutions are a direct outcome of Dr.
Kennedy’s vision and passion,” said Deep Nishar, Managing Director at
SoftBank. “We are excited to partner with the OSIsoft team to help
realize their mission in new markets and customer segments.”

SoftBank purchased the significant minority interest in OSIsoft from
Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (Kleiner Perkins), TCV and Tola
Capital. Kleiner Perkins and TCV first invested in OSIsoft in
2011 while Tola invested in 2012. Last year, Mitsui & Co. became an
investor in OSIsoft and maintains its ownership stake.

“OSIsoft is one of those rare success stories hiding in plain sight. The
company’s PI System is pervasive across industries: you probably
experience the impact of its technology several times a day without
realizing it. OSIsoft has also cultivated an impressive and enthusiastic
fan base of loyal customers,” said David Mount, a partner in the Green
Growth Fund at Kleiner Perkins. “This has been a very positive
investment for us and we’ve been very proud to be part of the company’s
growth. SoftBank is an ideal partner to bring OSIsoft’s PI System
technology to more markets and customers.”

“When we partnered with OSIsoft in 2011, it was already a forerunner in
what we now call IIoT, a market that’s expected to reach over $120
billion by 2021,” said Jake Reynolds, General Partner at TCV. “During
our 6-year investment in OSIsoft, we have been amazed at the company’s
growing presence and importance in this burgeoning market. We are
pleased that OSIsoft has the opportunity to partner with SoftBank during
its next phase in making the world’s industrial infrastructure more
connected, efficient, flexible, and sustainable.”

“We have examined many data-intensive companies who assert that they
will change the face of enterprise computing leveraging big data.
OSIsoft has been steadily transforming the industrial sector for decades
using a quantum of data heretofore not even envisaged by competing
companies. OSIsoft provides the essential bridge between operational and
information technology,” said Sheila Gulati, Managing Director of Tola
Capital. “Partnering with the OSIsoft team on their strategic growth has
been a tremendously rewarding endeavor. The Kennedy culture puts people
first through their unwavering commitment to their customers and
employees: this has provided the basis for their winning formula.”

One
of the world’s most widely-used technologies for digital transformation,
OSIsoft’s PI System captures data from sensors, manufacturing equipment
and other devices and transforms it into rich, real-time insights to
reduce costs, improve overall productivity and/or create new services.
Over 1,000
leading utilities, 95 percent of the largest oil and gas companies
and more than 65 percent of the Fortune 500 industrial companies rely on
the high-fidelity insights from the PI System to run their businesses.
Worldwide, the PI System actively handles over 1.5 billion sensor-based
data streams.

The company primarily focuses on six core markets—oil and gas;
utilities; pharmaceutical development and production; metals and mining;
pulp and paper; and water—and is rapidly expanding into food and
beverage, facilities and transportation. Wind developers leverage the PI
System to increase power production and reduce maintenance costs while
mining operations use it to meet
their goals for environmental compliance. Water utilities save
millions of liters of water a day by pinpointing
leaks within the PI System. The PI System can be found inside solar
farms, breweries,
data
centers, cruise
ships, leading
research laboratories, power grids, stadiums
and smart devices everywhere.

OSIsoft has also fostered an extensive partner ecosystem, including over
450 interfaces and connectors to translate and deliver PI System data to
popular enterprise applications and cloud platforms. More than 300
hardware manufacturers, software developers and system integrators
produce PI System-based products and services.

About OSIsoft LLC

Since 1980, OSIsoft has been dedicated to helping people transform their
world through data. For more, please visit www.osisoft.com.

About SoftBank

SoftBank is a global technology player that aspires to drive the
Information Revolution. SoftBank is comprised of the holding company
SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO: 9984) and its global portfolio of companies,
which includes advanced telecommunications, internet services, AI, smart
robotics, IoT and clean energy technology providers. In September 2016,
ARM Holdings plc, the world’s leading semiconductor IP company, joined
the SoftBank group. To learn more, please visit www.SoftBank.jp/en

Contacts

OSIsoft
Michael Kanellos, 510-877-9331
[email protected]
or
Sard
Verbinnen & Co
Emily Claffey or Benjamin Spicehandler, +1
212-687-8080
[email protected]