EFI Acquires DirectSmile, Broadens VDP and Cross Media Capabilities

EFI (Nasdaq:EFII), a world leader in customer-focused digital printing innovation, today announced that it has acquired DirectSmile GmbH, an award-winning provider of software solutions for cross media marketing automation.

Based in Berlin, DirectSmile invented image personalization in 2001 and today makes media personalization and automation software that streamlines sophisticated marketing and production tasks for corporations, agencies and printing companies. DirectSmile's technologies extend EFI's offerings and will give customers expanded, fully integrated capabilities with data-driven digital print, web, e-mail, social media and mobile marketing workflows.

While financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, it is not expected to be material to EFI's Q3 or full year 2014 results. DirectSmile employees, including co-founders and former principals Christoph Schacht and Christoph Clermont, have joined EFI's Productivity Software Web2Print Solutions Group.

"Web to print is one of the fastest-growing parts of the printing and marketing software segment," said Gabriel Matsliach, senior vice president and general manager, EFI Productivity Software. "This acquisition gives us the ability to further address this segment with additional, best-in-class variable data and cross media technologies."

EFI will continue to develop, sell and support DirectSmile products as standalone software for the agency, enterprise and print industry markets. DirectSmile's technology also will be integrated into EFI's web to print and eCommerce offering, EFI Digital StoreFront.