The Polish operator Play, which is part of France’s Iliad Group, has acquired a 92.5% stake in Redge Technologies for an undisclosed fee.
The remaining 7.5% will be retained by Przemyslaw Frasunek, the CEO and co-founder of the company.
Redge Technologies is a leader in OTT and edge computing technologies in Central Europe, with its flagship technology, Redge Media an OTT platform available in PaaS and On-Prem models. It counts Play, Warner Bros Discovery group’s TVN, the TV3 Baltics group, Telewizja Polska, Ringier Axel Springer Polska, Vectra, Canal+ and NASK among its customers. Redge Technologies was founded in 2007 as part of the Atende group and has been an integral part of the development of streaming in Central Europe. In 2020, the company became an independent entity following a management buyout, assisted by Custodia Capital led by Wojciech Domanski and Tomasz Potapczuk. In 2021, Redge Technologies had revenues in excess of €7.5million.
Following the acquisition by Play, the management team will remain intact. Redge Technologies has operated as a separate entity and will continue with its product, sales and marketing strategies, both on the domestic market and internationally. At the same time, the company will extend its cooperation with the Play Group – building upon a synergistic relationship dating back to 2009 – to include, among other, further development of the PlayNOW platform.
Commenting on the transaction, Przemyslaw Frasunek said: “Joining the Play Group opens a new chapter in the company’s history and is consistent with our telecommunications DNA. For 15 years, we have supported telecom operators and broadcasters in their OTT services. The technology developed by us has become the foundation of several major deployments in the region. The cooperation with Play will yield – most of all – synergies in telecommunications and a great chance to further develop our CDN, but also other services based on edge computing. We want to keep on setting the trends and standards in the industry”.
Tomasz Potapczuk, co-founder of Custodia Capital and vice-president of the former Supervisory Board of Redge Technologies, added: “The Play Group has acquired the most prized asset in video technology in Central Europe. Following the spin-off from the Atende group, Redge has been thoroughly transformed: the company has become laser-focused on its unique and most valuable video streaming technology, built up its operational resources, and accelerated investment in its technology assets. As Custodia Capital, we are glad that we were in the position to assist the management team of Redge – Przemek, Jan and Tomek – in such dynamic growth, and that the company has now become a part of the global capital group, which is uniquely positioned to accelerate the Redge’s growth”.
Broadband TV News notes that side from Play, Iliad Group’s interests in Poland include Liberty Global’s former UPC Polska.
