Tobii acquires Phasya to enhance its offering in automotive and other verticals

Tobii, the world leader in eye tracking, today announces that it has signed a agreement to acquire Phasya, an innovative provider of software for monitoring physiological and cognitive states that influence human behavior.

With industry-leading accuracy, Phasya’s AI-based software analyzes biometric signals such as eye tracking or heart rate to monitor cognitive states including drowsiness, cognitive load, and distraction. The company’s algorithms are necessary components in all Driver Monitoring Systems (DMS), to understand the driver states impacting safety, driving experience, and comfort. Phasya’s solutions can also be deployed within industries such as aviation, rail, and consumer electronics. The solution is built on more than a decade of cutting-edge research in collaboration with The University of Liège, Belgium.

Rationale for the acquisition
Phasya’s technology and long experience within development and validation of algorithms to assess cognitive states is highly complementary to Tobii´s expertise and eye tracking technology. This will enhance Tobii’s Driver Monitoring System, Tobii DMS, that was announced today. It also opens new opportunities for using cognitive state information in several markets, such as VR, AR, Scientific Research, and Gaming, providing substantial synergies. The company currently collaborates with numerous customers within automotive, technology, and aviation, as well as with leading industry associations providing key relationships for Tobii and Phasya to build on.

Phasya is in its early pre-revenue commercialization phase. By leveraging its resources and capabilities, Tobii will be able to accelerate the commercialization of Phasya’s offering. Tobii expects the business to scale rapidly, driven by integrations of the algorithms in Tobii´s existing solutions as well as in new applications, and with the mass market adoption for automotive DMS expected in 2024/25.

“Tobii and Phasya are a perfect strategic fit. By combining two strong teams with complementary expertise, products, and customer relationships, we will unlock significant synergies.” said Henrik Eskilsson, CEO of Tobii. “We welcome the Phasya team to the Tobii family and look forward to push the boundaries for attention computing in Automotive, VR, AR, gaming and other markets.”

Jérôme Wertz, CEO at Phasya, commented: “Through this process it has become increasingly clear that Tobii is a fantastic home for Phasya. By leveraging Tobii’s organization and strong experience of scaling businesses, Phasya’s team and solutions will reach its full potential. We look forward to driving groundbreaking innovation and introducing exciting new possibilities across industries”

Details of the acquisition
Tobii will pay a maximum purchase price of around EUR 4m, of which around EUR 2m is contingent on performance over the coming five years. Tobii intends to pay for the acquisition in cash using existing funds. The acquisition is expected to close August 6, 2021, and Phasya will be fully consolidated in Tobii´s external reporting from the same date.

This information is information that Tobii AB (publ) is obliged to make public pursuant to the EU Market Abuse Regulation. The information was submitted for publication, through the agency of the contact person set out below, on August 5, 2021, at 17:30 CEST.