Advanced Television

IMAX acquires SSIMWAVE

September 23, 2022

Entertainment technologist IMAX has acquired AI-driven video quality solutions specialist SSIMWAVE. IMAX says the move marks a significant expansion of its strategy to deliver the highest quality video images on any screen; to drive new, recurring revenue; and grow its global leadership in entertainment technology.

Under the terms of agreement, IMAX acquired SSIMWAVE for $18.5 million (€18.8m) in cash and $2.5 million in stock with additional earnout consideration of $4 million, subject to achieving certain operating performance and financial objectives.

Through its technology, Ontario-based SSIMWAVE aims to enable streaming and broadcast providers to deliver the best possible image on any device for on-demand and live video. The acquisition is expected to be accretive in 2023 and have minimal financial impact in 2022.

“SSIMWAVE is doing revolutionary work at the intersection of human visual perception and image enhancement technology,” commented Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “By putting the power of our global brand behind their award-winning engineering team and product suite, IMAX takes a big step toward a new horizon in our ability to deliver the best images for any creator, across every screen. In the near-term, SSIMWAVE brings to IMAX new, SaaS-based revenue and a world-class client roster that tightly aligns with some of our strongest, most successful content partnerships.”

IMAX will work with SSIMWAVE in the near term to further grow its business and product suite, including international expansion. Longer-term, IMAX’s technology and post-production teams will work with SSIMWAVE’s engineering team to develop new solutions for delivering IMAX-quality video experiences across platforms, around the world.

“Viewers and content creators expect more from video experiences,” asserted Dr Abdul Rehman, CEO and Co-Founder of SSIMWAVE. “By joining IMAX, SSIMWAVE will be even better positioned to preserve creators’ intent and enable engaging, differentiated viewing experiences to millions of users across platforms. We’re excited to join IMAX and tap into its global scale and expertise as more streamers turn to SSIMWAVE to ensure the best viewing experiences while reducing bandwidth costs.”

“SSIMWAVE boasts a brilliant team of engineers, technologists, and academics obsessed with image quality and on the leading edge of Ontario’s thriving tech community; the similarities between this company and IMAX when we acquired it nearly 30 years ago are uncanny,” said Gelfond. “We look forward to scaling SSIMWAVE’s business and taking it in never-before-imagined directions around the world just as we did with IMAX’s game-changing projection technology.”

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