Safran, an expert in the fields of aeronautics, space and defense, intends to support “the development” of the SME specializing in AI “in the world, particularly on the American market.”
The Safran group announced on Monday the acquisition of the French SME Preligens, one of the leaders in artificial intelligence in the aerospace and defense sectors, “for an enterprise value of 220 million euros”.
Preligens “joins Safran,” the acquiring company said on its website, specifying that the company “will be renamed Safran.AI and attached to Safran Electronics & Defense.”
“Founded in 2016, Preligens offers proven AI-based solutions to analyze high-resolution images, FMV (full motion video) videos and acoustic signals” and “develops complex algorithms and software to automatically analyze, detect and identify objects of military interest, particularly from commercial or government satellite images,” Safran explains.
A contract worth 240 million euros
In October 2022, Preligens won a €240 million contract from the French Ministry of Defense for mass data processing for seven years.
By acquiring Preligens, the Safran group, present in the fields of aeronautics, space and defense, intends to support “the development” of the SME “in the world, particularly on the American market”.
When announcing this transaction in June, Safran had mentioned, regarding Preligens, a turnover of 28 million euros in 2023 and 220 employees, “including 140 engineers for the Research & Development division”.
