Presidio Investors, a lower middle market private equity firm, today (July 14) announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell ElevATE Semiconductor to Diodes Incorporated in an all-cash transaction valued at $250 million. Headquartered in  California, ElevATE is a leading fabless designer of low-power, high-density integrated circuits for the automated test equipment (ATE) industry.

The sale marks the successful realisation of Presidio’s first continuation fund, which was formed in 2023 to extend the firm’s partnership with ElevATE and support the company’s next phase of growth, said a statement from the company. 

The acquisition of ElevATE by a leading global semiconductor company validates the strategy behind the continuation vehicle and delivers a strong outcome for the company, its employees, and Presidio’s investors.

“Presidio has been a true partner to ElevATE from day one,” said Jan Gaudestad, Chief Executive Officer of ElevATE, who first joined the company’s board of directors at the time of Presidio’s 2018 investment and was appointed CEO in 2024.

“I have seen this partnership from both the boardroom and the CEO seat. Presidio invested in our people, our operations, and our product roadmap, and gave us the stability and resources to focus on what we do best — designing the highest density, lowest power test solutions in the industry,” he noted. 

Presidio first invested in ElevATE in 2018, when the company was a small, founder-led team of analog chip designers serving the ATE market. Over nearly eight years of partnership - with Managing Partner Christian Puscasiu and Partner Josef Auboeck serving on ElevATE’s board of directors - Presidio worked alongside management to institutionalise operations, strengthen global sales channels, expand the product portfolio, and invest in the R&D capabilities that established ElevATE as a technology leader in semiconductor test. 

Along the way, the company adopted modern operating systems and AI-enabled tools that allowed the business to scale efficiently as demand grew. 

“This acquisition by Diodes is the direct result of that partnership, and it positions ElevATE to bring our innovations to a global stage. On behalf of the entire ElevATE team, I want to thank Chris and the Presidio team for eight years of support, trust, and genuine collaboration,” he added.

Christian Puscasiu, Managing Partner of Presidio Investors, said: “This is a proud day for everyone who has been part of the ElevATE journey. When we partnered with ElevATE’s founders in 2018, we saw a small team of world-class engineers with technology that punched far above its weight. The credit for what ElevATE has become belongs to its people — the founders who built the foundation, the engineers who kept pushing the technology forward, and Jan and his leadership team, who have taken the company to a new level.”

“Diodes is an outstanding home for ElevATE, and we are grateful to the investors who backed this company alongside us at every stage,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service