Kudelski Group buys Civolution’s NexGuard Labs

Kudelski Group has fully acquired Civolution-owned digital content watermarking firm, NexGuard Labs.

The deal will expand Kudelski Group’s portfolio of content protection security solutions for content owners and pay TV operators and will reinforce its existing watermarking technology, anyMARK. :

“The acquisition of NexGuard further strengthens our content protection offering and represents a key milestone in executing our growth strategy in security,” said Kudelski Group chairman and CEO, André Kudelski.

The agreement marks Civolution’s third and final successful business unit exit after the firm sold two other similar divisions in as may years.

In July 2015 4C acquired Civolution’s Teletrax TV analytics and TV-synced ads business, while in December 2014 Kantar Media bought Civolution’s audio watermarking business unit.

“I’m very pleased that Kudelski is acquiring Civolution’s NexGuard business unit as it’s a great fit for its technologies, its talented employees and will ensure that customers can continue to benefit from NexGuard forensic watermarking as part of the renowned Kudelski digital security product and services portfolio,” says Alex Terpstra, chairman, Civolution Holdings.

NexGuard Labs is based in the Netherlands with offices in Los Angeles, New York, London, Dubai and Rennes. It provides forensic watermarking technology and solutions for protecting media content against illicit redistribution and claims it is responsible for US$90 billion of protected revenues for 530 clients worldwide.

Civolution was created in 2008 after Royal Philips Electronics spun-off its content identification technologies.