Cleantech Exit – Samsung Buys Novaled from Dresden

Congratulations to Novaled and its founders and investors which include eCapital, Germany's most active cleantech VC. This is a fantastic exit that brings hope and money to the cleantech startup industry in Europe. Samsung Cheil Industries (aka Samsung Chemical) and Samsung Electronics buy 50% and 40% respectively of the Dresden-based late stage startup for a total of €260M of which €30M are bound to reaching further growth targets. Corporate VC Samsung Ventures maintains their 10% stake in the transaction. Founded in 2001, Novaled is a world leader in OLED (Organic LED) materials. Following a fabless strategy from the beginning, Samsung is Novaled's biggest customer and it comes as no suprise that they turn out to be the acquirer. Novaled's revenues grew from €10M in 2010 to €26M in 2012. Thus, Novaled's valuation at exit is 10 times the 2012 revenues or, in other words, the price sales ratio is 10.