Canadian Electronic Signature Company Acquired for $110 Million

NASDAQ-traded VASCO announced today that they have acquired Montreal e-signature provider Silanis Technology for $110 million in a cash deal.

VASCO Data Security International is a global leader in authentication, electronic signatures, and identity management and Silanis Technology is a leading provider of electronic signature (e-signature) and digital transaction solutions used to sign, send and manage documents.

Silanis’ e-SignLive platform is trusted by some of the largest banks, insurers and government agencies.

The acquisition is a huge coup for the Canadian company and impressive considered the industry consolidation that has happened to date.

At a price tag of $110 million the acquisition is the most an electronic signature vendor has been acquired for in an industry that has seen multiple acquisitions over the years, beginning with Adobe acquiring EchoSign, then Citrix acquiring RightSignature, Kofax acquiring SoftPro and DocuSign acquiring ARX.

The e-signature market has been experiencing 53 percent annual growth year over year since 2012, due to the prevalence of businesses taking their processes digital and mobile.

The fact that a Canadian company is ranked #2 in the industry against giants like Adobe and DocuSign is a testament to the company’s product, strong market presence and customer base in regulated industries including banking, insurance and government.

“E-signatures have largely been a North American phenomenon until now and with VASCO’s vast resources, global footprint and extensive partner channels, we’ll be able to leapfrog e-signature players like DocuSign, especially internationally and quickly bring e-signatures to enterprises in regions outside of North America. In VASCO, we have found an incredible partner who shares our vision for helping organizations of all sizes conduct digital transactions securely and move their businesses to a completely digital process. This is a win-win for our mutual customers and the market as a whole,” Silanis Technology CEO Tommy Petrogiannis told Techvibes.