![]() | |
Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Computer software |
Founded | 1985 |
Founders | David Silver, Dean Hough |
Headquarters | Irvine, California |
Key people | Reynolds C. Bish (CEO) |
Products | Intelligent automation, cognitive capture, robotic process automation, business process orchestration, data integration, customer communications management, analytics, print management |
Revenue | ![]() |
Owner | |
Number of employees | 2,200 (2024)[1] |
Website | www |
Tungsten Automation, formerly Kofax Inc., is an Irvine, California-based intelligent automation software provider. Founded in 1985, the company's software allows businesses to automate and improve business workflows by simplifying the handling of data and documents.[2]
Since 2017, the company has been an independent portfolio company owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo.[3] In 2022, Clearlake Capital and TA Associates completed their acquisition of the company from Thoma Bravo.
History
[edit]Tungsten Automation was founded in 1985 as Kofax Image Products by engineers Dean Hough and David Silver, who worked together at document processing company FileNet.[4] Silver became the company's chief executive officer and president.[5] The company initially focused on making personal computer circuit boards to convert them into image-processing machines, and its first products were released in 1989.[4]
In the 1990s, the company continued to develop its core image processing technology.[6]
In October 1997, the company went public on the Nasdaq market.[7]
In July 1999, the company announced it would be purchased by UK-based holding company DICOM Group in a reported US$75 million cash deal, with the intent to pair Kofax Image Products, Inc.’s digital capture technology with DICOM Group's distribution services in Europe.[6]
In July 2000, CEO and President Silver stepped down and was succeeded by Arnold von Büren, former deputy chief executive officer of Dicom.[5]
In 2002, Rick Murphy was named CEO of Kofax, and von Büren was promoted to CEO of Dicom Group.[8]
In April 2003, Kofax acquired Mohomine Inc., an automated text classification and extraction developer.[9]
In December 2005, Dicom Group / Kofax Inc. appointed Rob Klatell as CEO of Dicom.[10]
In November 2007, then CEO Rob Klatell was replaced by Reynolds Bish, former CEO of Captiva Software, now part of OpenText.[8]
In January 2008, the company renamed Kofax Image Products, Inc. and Dicom Group as Kofax Inc.[11]
In May 2011, Kofax Inc. announced the acquisition of Atalasoft Inc., an image software company whose primary product was a document imaging toolkit named dotImage.[12] In December, Kofax Inc.’s US$48 million bid to purchase London IT company Singularity was accepted.[13] This acquisition enabled business process management (BPM) and case management software to exist through public or private SaaS (software as a service) platforms.[14]
In the summer of 2013, Kofax added robotic process automation (RPA) developer Kapow Software (now: Kofax RPA). In December, Kofax Inc. was added to the Nasdaq Stock Market as (KFX).[15]
In September 2014, Kofax acquired Softpro, an e-signature and signature verification software company in Stuttgart, Germany, as a separate entity.[16]
In March 2015, Kofax Inc. purchased Aia Holding, a customer communications management company in The Netherlands, in a US$19.5 million cash deal.[17] Also in March, the company introduced Mobile ID, image validation software for capturing proof-of-identity documents required for secure processes such as opening bank accounts.[17]
On March 24, 2015, Lexmark International, Inc. and Kofax Inc. entered into a merger agreement. Lexmark acquired outstanding shares of Kofax Inc. for US$11 per share, or approximately US$1 billion.[18][19] After the acquisition closed, Kofax Inc. combined with Perceptive Software, a subsidiary of Lexmark, to form an expanded business content and management software unit of their parent company.[19] Kofax Inc. ended the 2015 fiscal year with US$297 million in revenue.[19]
In the spring of 2016, Lexmark and its subsidiaries were acquired by an investment consortium led by Apex Technology Co. and PAG Asia Capital. The purchase was valued at US$3.6 billion.[20]
In July 2017, private equity and growth capital firm Thoma Bravo acquired Lexmark's Enterprise Software business which consisted of three entities: Kofax, ReadSoft, and Perceptive Software.[21] Following this, Kofax and ReadSoft combined into a single, newly independent Thoma Bravo portfolio company.[21]
In November 2018, Kofax announced it was acquiring the Document Imaging Division of Nuance Communications.[22] By means of this acquisition, Kofax gained Nuance's Power PDF, PaperPort document management and OmniPage optical character recognition software applications.
In May 2019, Kofax issued a press release announcing the closing of its acquisition of Top Image Systems (NASDAQ:TISA)(TIS).[23]
In June 2021, Kofax announced the acquisition of PSIGEN Software, Inc., a provider of document capture, content management and workflow automation software and solutions.[24] In August, the company announced the acquisition of cloud-based print management system provider Printix.net.[25]
In July 2022, Clearlake Capital and TA Associates completed their acquisition of the company from Thoma Bravo.[26]
On January 16, 2024, Kofax was renamed to Tungsten Automation.[1]
Products
[edit]Tungsten Automation develops intelligent automation software for businesses, for applications ranging from print management, to process automation and document/pdf management.[22] Its products are grouped into four categories: Intelligent Automation Platform; Finance & Accounting; Capture & Print; and Desktop Productivity.
The company's Intelligent Automation Platform supports digital workflows and includes the following components:
- TotalAgility, a workflow orchestration software within the Intelligent Automation Platform that includes low-code, document intelligence, process orchestration, and connected systems capabilities to improve business processes[27]
- RPA, robotic process automation software that allows code-free automation of labor-intensive, multi-step tasks across systems and data sources[28]
- SignDoc, e-signature software that verifies electronic signatures for document workflows[29]
The company's Finance & Accounting group develops an Accounts Payable (AP) Automation Platform which includes the following:
- AP Agility, artificial intelligence-enabled accounts payable software, used to simplify internal business processes[30]
- AP Essentials (formerly ReadSoft Online) invoice processing software that automatically captures and validates invoice data from multiple formats[31]
- Invoice Portal, an online portal for electronic invoicing[citation needed]
The company's Capture & Print business area develops software to support print-centric business processes, including the following:
- ControlSuite, print management, capture and document security software[32]
- AutoStore, software for automated and compliant document capture[33]
- Capture, software for processing and integrating content directly into a business's workflow from any location[33][34]
The company's Desktop Productivity software includes a variety of software for managing documents. Desktop Productivity products include:
- Power PDF, software for creating, converting, editing, sharing and e-signing PDF files.[35]
- PaperPort, software for scanning, storing and managing documents
Operations
[edit]Tungsten Automation is headquartered in Irvine, California.[2] As of 2024, it had approximately 2,200 employees in 32 countries around the world.[1] Specialized industries include healthcare, insurance, transportation & logistics, government, finance & accounting and business process management. Customers and partners include Xerox, HP Inc., Canon Inc., Samsung, Visa Inc. and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.[22][36][37]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "A New Chapter Begins: Kofax is now Tungsten Automation". BusinessWire. January 16, 2024. Retrieved March 12, 2024.
- ^ a b "Kofax CEO Explains $400M Document Imaging Buy". Orange County Business Journal. November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Lexmark's Lenexa operations trade hands — again". Kansas City Business Journal. May 3, 2017. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b "One Executive's Spinoff Begat Second Venture : Technology: After an industry veteran built his own computer company, two of his workers found a non-competitive application for a business". LA Times. August 18, 1991. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b "Silver Will Step Down as Kofax Officer". LA Times. June 2, 2000. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b "Kofax acquired by international investment group". KMWorld. July 30, 1999. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Completes Initial Offering". LA Times. October 19, 1997. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b "Dicom Turns To Bish" (PDF). Document Imaging Report. November 16, 2007. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Buys Text Classification, Extraction Developer". eWeek. April 9, 2003. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ Gammon, Ralph (November 3, 2006). "Dicom Strives To Improve Market Focus" (PDF).
- ^ "Electronic data company consolidates under one name, Kofax, of Irvine". Orange County Register. February 22, 2008. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Limited". UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION. 2013. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "US takeover for Londonderry IT firm Singularity". BBC News. December 6, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Kofax Acquires Singularity; Unifies Document Capture and BPM for On-Premise, Cloud". Integration Developer News. 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "KOFAX LTD (KFX) IPO". NASDAQ. 2018. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Kofax Acquires German E-Signature Company". Orange County Business Journal. September 2, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b "Consumers are finally ready for paperless transactions. Are you?". Fortune. March 12, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Lexmark to Acquire Kofax". SEC GOV. March 24, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Perceptive Software's owner makes $1 billion acquisition". The Kansas City Star. March 24, 2015. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ "Lexmark to Be Bought by Apex, PAG Asia in $3.6 Billion Deal". Bloomberg. April 19, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
- ^ a b "Thoma Bravo to Acquire Lexmark's Kofax". Finovate. May 8, 2017. Retrieved May 8, 2018.
- ^ a b c "Kofax CEO Explains $400M Document Imaging Buy". Orange County Business Journal. November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Announces the Closing of its Acquisition of Top Image Systems". Kofax. May 6, 2019. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Acquires PSIGEN". Orange County Business Journal. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Acquires Print Management Software Provider Printix.net". PYMNTS. November 9, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Thoma Brava completes sale of software firm Kofax to Clearlake and TA". PE Hub. July 25, 2022. Retrieved July 25, 2022.
- ^ "Kofax expands low-code capabilities within TotalAgility". KMWorld. June 4, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax, ImageTech Partnership Uses Intelligent Automation To Expedite COVID-19 Relief". Integration Developer News. June 23, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Simplifies E-Signature Capture, Processing". CMS Wire. July 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax Rolls Out New Version of AP Agility Software". Pymnts. April 13, 2021. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax, Microsoft Team On Enhancing AP Automation". CMS Wire. July 9, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Brother and Kofax partner to offer unified solution". KMWorld. March 27, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ a b Taulli, Tom (28 February 2020). The Robotic Process Automation Handbook: A Guide to Implementing RPA Systems. Apress. p. 249. ISBN 9781484257296.
- ^ "Kofax Chief Bish Embraces Work-From-Home Concept". US Department of Veteran's Affairs. March 12, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "VA Technical Reference Model v 21.11". PC World. August 21, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Kofax, Visa Cut B2B Payments Deal". PYMNTS. November 5, 2014. Retrieved November 9, 2021.
- ^ "Tokyo-headquartered bank adopts RPA technology". KM World. February 26, 2018. Retrieved November 9, 2021.