Sicap

Background

Sicap is a Swiss-based global telecommunication and Internet of Things (IofT) solution provider for mobile network operators and mobile virtual network operators. The company helps mobile service providers with solutions relating to customer insights and engagement, device and SIM management, mobile security, and IoT service enablement. Sicap currently operates in 76 countries for over 120 customer sites, and has an international team based in nine locations worldwide.

Sicap was founded over 20 years ago as a spin-off from Swisscom, with a team of engineers who in 1997 invented the world’s first SIM-based solution for prepaid billing. In response to the market dominance of network-based prepaid billing technologies, the company re-focused its mobile network expertise on SIM over-the-air management, device management, and USSD solutions, paving its way into international telecom markets.

From 2001 until 2013, Sicap operated independently as part of Swisscom, until it gained full independence through a management buyout. The new company was created out of spun-out businesses that focused on USSD platform & device management and SIM management. In 2018, Sicap was acquired by Volaris Group.

Volaris’ mission of buying companies and keeping them as autonomous entities rather than integrating them really made the difference for us. After speaking with management and understanding their practices, it was clear that Volaris was the right acquirer for Sicap. I favored Volaris early on in our sale process because I believed they were the right acquirer for the business.

— Markus Doetsch, CEO, Sicap

The Decision to Sell

Early in 2017, Sicap began looking for strategic acquirers to help further grow the business. After considering a handful of potential candidates, the company favored Volaris Group from an early stage. What appealed to Sicap was the concept behind Volaris, the fact that Volaris Group acquires companies with the purpose of strengthening and growing them while keeping the companies independent. For Sicap and its leadership, this was a clear and attractive concept that would guarantee a strategic, mutually beneficial partnership.

The Communications Portfolio is truly about ‘connecting everything’ and I believe that Sicap is in the middle of this strategy. Connecting everything is exactly what we do, that’s why our philosophy and vision are so tightly aligned with the Communications Portfolio.

— Markus Doetsch, CEO, Sicap

Post-Acquisition Success

Now that Sicap has joined Volaris, it is undergoing a successful integration with a clear understanding of the required objectives as a result of the Volaris team’s transparent, open communication. The company is receiving support and direction from its peers in the communications portfolio, and benefits from access to best practices shared by likeminded leaders within the organization. For Sicap’s employees, the benefit is that the management team remains in place and that business continues as usual. The company’s customers, meanwhile, are pleased that Sicap has joined the stable, large business environment provided by Volaris Group. In fact, some of Sicap’s large customers have even expressed interest in working with other companies in Volaris’ communications vertical.

For Sicap, the great benefit of joining Volaris is that it allows the company to assume a strategic position within the communications portfolio. Sicap’s device management business is fundamentally aligned with the portfolio’s value proposition of connecting everything. The company looks to expand its network by gaining access to the large customer base of its fellow portfolio members, which is something that it can leverage for greater opportunities in the future. Sicap also stands to benefit from the communications portfolio’s growing footprint in the mobile device space, made possible by fellow portfolio member WDS Mobile.

As Sicap looks ahead, the core of its business will remain device management. The company will continue to provide platforms for managing and configuring the connection of devices. In addition, Sicap is investing significantly in R&D and leveraging the data from its core business to develop several products such as TargetMe, to improve customer insight and engagement, and Sicap Safer, to provide security optimization. Now that Sicap has joined Volaris, it will also have the opportunity to work with other companies in its portfolio on common developments.