A software testing firm founded by a north-east entrepreneur has been sold to a US tech group for $330 million.
Former Peterhead Academy pupil George Mackintosh founded Eggplant in 2008 and was its largest private shareholder when it sold last week. It is thought he received around $22m.
The London-based firm was acquired by Keysight Technologies, a Californian based, New York Stock Exchange-listed firm.
Eggplant had been majority owned by global investment firm The Carlyle Group since 2016.
Keysight Technologies, which has a market capitalisation of $18.25 billion and posted revenue of $4.3bn in 2019, traces its roots back to Hewlett-Packard in South Queensferry in the 1970s and was subsequently spun-out of HP. It still has an Edinburgh operating base.
Inverness-born Mr Mackintosh founded Eggplant in the UK before establishing a US HQ in Boulder, Colorado in 2010; the firm, which has a headcount of over 200, then expanded into Germany and Japan.
Mr Mackintosh was CEO from 2008 to 2017 and remained on the board until the deal was completed.
A spokesman for Mr Mackintosh said: “The pace of digitisation has only increased in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.George has founded and managed equity-backed technology companies for…28 years and is highly skilled in software, services and hardware sales to global businesses in Europe, North America and Asia.
“The combination of market vision and…expertise in sales is arguably at the heart of the success he has had to date.”
