Signiant Inc. today announced the acquisition of Lesspain Software, a German provider of embedded media processing software and the desktop application Kyno. Lesspain’s talent and technology will be used to extend the functionality of Signiant’s market-leading Software Defined Content Exchange (SDCX) SaaS platform, adding powerful tools for interaction with media assets. With nearly one million users worldwide, the platform connects more than 50,000 Media & Entertainment companies of all sizes.
Commenting on the move, Margaret Craig, CEO of Signiant, points to the unique nature of the company’s acquisition approach. “There are several consolidators in the media technology space focused on aggregating the revenue of legacy hardware and software companies. We aren’t looking to replicate that kind of roll-up model. Instead, Signiant is executing a true platform strategy by targeting software companies with complementary functionality that can be transformed into cloud-native SaaS. We’re operating the industry’s preeminent SaaS platform at scale, and we have built SaaS-centric operational infrastructure across every functional area of the company. Through adjacent acquisitions, these investments can now be leveraged to deliver the media-centric capabilities that our customers are clamoring for ⎯ all on a unified software platform.”
Long established within the M&E industry for mission-critical transfer of large files, Signiant’s role in the media technology stack has expanded dramatically in recent years. In today’s hybrid cloud, multi-cloud world, the SDCX platform provides the connective fabric between globally distributed content repositories ⎯ both within and between media companies of all sizes. In addition to providing fast, secure access to media assets regardless of storage type and location, this increasingly involves management of information about the assets.
Signiant CTO Ian Hamilton notes, “Customers are looking to Signiant to facilitate organizing, finding, and interacting with their media assets in various value-add ways. These capabilities require enrichment of our platform’s metadata and proxy framework, areas where the Lesspain team will contribute both skills and code. I look forward to welcoming them into our product group to help accelerate delivery of these enhancements.”
Core members of the Lesspain team will remain based in Germany, where Signiant plans to grow its development organization. According to Robert Krüger of Lesspain, the decision to join forces with Signiant was clear. “We’re excited about the opportunity to become part of an innovative, customer-centric organization that is committed to the media industry. Our deep experience with content processing and management will enable meaningful contributions as the company continues to advance the SDCX platform vision beyond file transfer.”
