Zebra Acquires Hart Systems

Zebra Technologies announced that it has acquired Hart Systems, a leading provider of cloud-based physical inventory management solutions, for approximately $94 million in cash, subject to applicable post-closing adjustments. The seller, Topspin Partners LBO, is a Long Island, NY-based private equity firm focused on the lower-middle market.

The acquisition strengthens Zebra’s leadership position in serving the retail industry with a broad portfolio of innovative offerings, including software and hardware solutions for inventory management and pricing, mobile point-of-sale and a broad set of applications for personalized customer engagement to deliver unique customer insights and efficient retail operations.

“As the recognized leader in self-managed inventory solutions, Hart gives retailers better tools to optimize in-store inventories in an environment of increasingly complex global supply chains,” said Anders Gustafsson, Zebra’s CEO. “It is an excellent strategic fit for Zebra. Hart’s solutions add high-value software and data analytics capabilities to Zebra, and increase our presence within the Internet of Things ecosystem. The business expands the portfolio of products, solutions and services Zebra provides to current customers, and gives us important relationships with new ones.”

Headquartered in Hauppauge, NY, Hart Systems provides solutions that enable retailers to conduct self-directed in-store inventory operations. The company’s innovative cloud-based Software-as-a-Service solutions deliver significant cost savings, improved accuracy, greater control and real-time web-based data analytics over competing methods of physical inventory management.

Hart’s solutions incorporate mobile computing terminals from leading automatic identification companies and provide a proven return on investment. Hart System’s customers include leaders in a broad range of retail segments including apparel, grocery, consumer electronics, convenience and automotive.

“We are thrilled to be entering into an exciting new era with Zebra Technologies,” said Edward Tonkon, Hart’s CEO. “From the outset of our involvement with Zebra, we recognized several opportunities to create value for our customers. Being part of Zebra Technologies will enable us to accelerate the realization of our long-term growth opportunities through building on Zebra’s industry-leading solutions and global reach.”