Siemens Mobility to Purchase Sqills for $651MM

French National Railways (SNC) selected Sqills’ 3 Passenger system to replace its current reservation system.

Siemens Mobility has announced it is acquiring Dutch cloud-based inventory management, reservation and ticketing software provider Sqills for €550 million (US$650.89 million) plus an earn out.

Sqills has developed the “S3 Passenger” as a scalable platform that enables rail and bus operators to replace legacy reservation systems with an online booking system that increases the utilization and availability of passenger transport. This technology adds an important digital solution to Siemens Mobility’s software portfolio and bolsters its ability to provide products and services that help increase the overall usage and convenience of public transportation.

Founded in 2002 in Enschede, Netherlands, Sqills currently employs 160 people and forecasts €40 million (US$47.34 million) in revenue for 2022 through a Software as a Service (SaaS) business model. The company currently supplies 33 operators across nine countries, including SNCF, Irish Rail, Rail Delivery Group, SJ, VIA Rail and Eurostar.

Closing of the transaction is subject to customary conditions and is expected in the first quarter of fiscal year 2022. The acquisition is expected to be earnings per share (EPS) accretive pre-Purchase Price Allocation (PPA) in the second year after closing. Sqills will be managed as a separate legal entity and wholly owned subsidiary of Siemens Mobility.

“To significantly increase passengers on the rails and reach climate targets by 2030, we need to provide passengers with a more optimized process that allows them to seamlessly identify and utilize all offered train services,” said Siemens Mobility CEO Michael Peter. “The acquisition of Sqills and its easy-to-implement SaaS inventory, reservation and ticketing platform gives us the ability to achieve exactly that. Furthermore, combining the Sqills booking platform and the Hacon solutions provide a comprehensive offering for operators to manage their key travel processes, including trip searching and yield management.”

“Joining Siemens Mobility’s growing business and software portfolio for intermodal and connected travel is a tremendous opportunity that allows Sqills to advance its plans to expand beyond Europe into Asia Pacific and the Americas as well as its ongoing investment in team, product and existing long-term operator partnerships,” says Sqills Board Member and Co-Founder Bart van Munster. “We’ll be even better equipped to drive the mobility software business and optimization of rail and bus travel on a global scale with local representation.”