HP Enterprise buys US software startup for USD 650 mn

Hewlett Packard Enterprise TOday announced a deal to buy business data management firm SimpliVity for USD 650 million in cash.
Founded in 2009, the Massachusetts-based Simplivity sells "hyperconverged" systems that combine computing, storage and networking. HPE said the market for such systems was estimated at USD 2.4 billion last year and was expected to grow to nearly USD 6 billion by the year 2020.
"This transaction expands HPE's software-defined capability and fits squarely within our strategy to make Hybrid IT simple for customers," HPE chief executive Meg Whitman said in a statement.
HPE, based in Palo Alto, California, was the result of the November 2015 breakup of computing giant Hewlett-Packard.

The group was split between its enterprise unit, HPE, and the personal computer and printer business HP Inc. That became a household name but faced increasingly fierce competition.
Whitman has dismantled some of the company as the world increasingly turns to mobile devices and cloud-based computing.
Nearly two years ago SimpliVity announced it had raised USD 175 million at a valuation of more than a billion dollars, placing it among highly-valued tech startups referred to as unicorns.
The price paid by HPE would indicate that the company had left the unicorn herd.