Dassault Systemes buys Cary-based software firm for $40M

Cary, N.C. — Dassault Systemes is acquiring Engineous Software, a privately held developer of sophisticated automation, integration and optimization applications, in a deal worth $40 million.

Once the deal closes, Engineous Chief Executive Officer Janet Wylie will step down. Wylie, who joined Engineous six years ago, has been an active leader in the Triangle’s technology community and at one time chaired the N.C. Technology Association.

“I am very excited about this,” Wylie told WRAL Local Tech Wire in an interview. “My plans are to go to Florida and be a real estate investor.”

Engineous has more than 90 employees, 51 of them based in Cary. Most of the Triangle personnel are developers and are expected to stay as Dassault takes over, Wylie said. The company reported some $17 million in revenues in 2007, according to Wylie.

Engineous’ investors decided to sell the firm when it became clear that larger firms were moving into its product space, Wylie explained.

Siu Tong, one of the firm’s two founders, also will stay on in a research-and-development role, Wylie added.

Noro-Moseley Partners in Atlanta is among the investors in Engineous, which was venture-backed. The company, a spinoff from General Electric, launched in 1996 and moved to Cary from New York that year. Other investors include GE, Intel, QuestMark Partners, and Peachtree Equities.

Dassauly is based in France. The company includes a business unit that focuses on 3D and product lifecycle management applications.

The deal is expected to close in July.

Dassault Systemes plans to incorporate Engineous technology and products known as FIPER and iSIGHT into its own simulation software products. Engineous customers include aerospace and manufacturing firms such as Boeing, GM, Rolls Royce, Toyota and General Electric.

The combination of the two firms’ offerings will “provide customers with an unmatched capability for collaborative management of simulation applications, processes, data and intellectual property,” said Scott Berkey, chief executive officer at Simulia, which is part of Dassault Systemes.

Simulia is based in Providence, R.I.

Engineous has offices in Michigan, California, Ohio, Delaware, New Hampshire and several countries in Europe as well as in Asia.

“We are extremely pleased to be joining Dassault Systèmes and the Simulia brand team,” Tong said in a statement. He and Dave Powell, now a professor at Elon University, worked at GE and founded Engineous. Powell left the company six years ago.

“Our vision, from the start, has been to help define and build solutions for the management and automation of simulation activities within the enterprise,” Tong added. “Becoming part of Dassault Systemes will allow our team to play an integral role in the democratization of realistic simulation for companies, their ecosystem and their customers, establishing Simulia SLM as the standard for enterprise simulation frameworks.”