Recently it was reported that Anima Connected has been bought by Spanish Festina Group. The acquisition mainly includes Anima’s inventories, stocks and IP rights. Festina Group is a Barcelona based global watch manufacture company which has its brands such as Festina, Lotus, Candino and Jaguar.

“It is an important acquisition for us, we not only bring in a new brand to our existing portfolio, we also take a step into the smartwatch segment.”, Miguel Rodriguez, president of Festina Group, told Watch Pro.

Anima Connected is positive after the acquisition, because it means that its globally valued brand Kronaby will survive.

“I’m very pleased with the results. It means that those watches can keep on working and customers can be provided with the service even in the future.”, says Anima administrator Ola Sellert to The Local.

Although Festina Group will keep some functions and operations of Anima and Kronaby in Spain, only a 10-person research and development team will remain in Malmö, and most of it’s operation here is shut down. 50 of the 60 former employees will not be offered new jobs, which Ola Sellert said is regrettable. Even Pål Borge, Anima’s co-founder and CEO, will leave the company.

According to Anima’s statement, the acquisition is expected to be completed in March 2019.

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Kronaby has been in the news a lot, and had big plans. Being positioned here it drew advantage of the strong mobile skills that are in this region, both for hardware and software. It reached sales of just over SEK 37 million (€ 3.5 million) in 2017, but made an operating loss of close to SEK 127 million (€ 12 million), the latest public available numbers. It had raised at least € 10 million when it was started, in 2015.

“The company is insolvent which is not of a temporary nature and therefore requests that the district court puts the applicant into bankruptcy”,

– writes Animas’ Chairman of the Board Peng Peng and CEO Pål Borge in the bankruptcy application, which was submitted to the Malmö District Court during last Wednesday morning, according to Sydsvenskan. The application also states that the company has about 60 employees. In light of the dire financial situation, the company’s leadership is actively considering the option of initiating a company liquidation UK, aligning it with their strategic approach to tackle the insolvency problem.

CEO Pål said that it was a funding that was planned for december from Goertek that did not go thru as planned. However, he believes there are chances for doing a fresh start.

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This year’s list has witnessed some 200 nominations of various companies from all over Sweden. Among the 33 finalists are seven companies from Southern Sweden, according to 8till5.

1. Acconeer – Lund-based startup that develops sensors for next generation portable devices. Acconeer was established in 2011. Estimated product launch is 2017.
2. Anima – Malmo-based company that makes smart watches and jewelry. Anima was established less than a year ago but has already raised 94 mln SEK (10 mln euro) from a Chinese company Goertek. The first collection of watches will be presented at the end of this year.
3. Mapillary – Malmo-based company that works wih crowdsourced map solution as an alternative to Google Maps. It is the 3rd time Mapillary lands among 33-listan companies. This year Mapillary also took in a 68 mln SEK (over 7 mln euro) investment to scale its operations.
4. Nattaro Labs – Lund-based company that develops products and services to prevent and combat bedbugs. The company was founded in 2011. Nattaro Labs has established a partnership with one of Germany’s largest distributors of pest control: PPS GmbH.
5. Orbital Systems – Malmo-based company that uses space technologies to reuse 90% of shower water and 80% of heat. It is the 2nd time Orbital Systems lands among the 33-listan companies.
6. Senzagen – Lund-based company that develops a technology for creating allergy tests without animal experiments. At the beginning of the year Senzagen signed an agreement with an international pharmaceutical company. It is the 2nd time Senzagen is on the 33-listan.
7. Spiideo – Malmo-based company that develops software for image analysis and a service for advanced video recording.

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In mid-March, the company will for the first time present the clock for selected journalists and distributors at Basel World, the world’s largest trade show for watches and jewelry. The techy features of the watch will be very subtle. A classic wristband and a pointer will make it look as if the watch is not digital, but the users will definitely know the difference. However, do you need a G-shock watch repair services? Then, you can check out a site like https://www.timesticking.com/g-shock-watch-repair/ for more info!

“We want to make a timeless classic clock where design comes first. There will be room only for the relevant technologies. For us it’s about creating a tool for the consumer, not building something that creates stress,” – says Linda Malmgren, Communications Chief at Anima.

As a company Anima is created with the goal to develop wearable technologies that would give users a peace of mind and where the design would be a crucial factor. So the new smart watch concept is developed with this philosphy in mind at Malmo-based company. The production process will be taking place in China.

The price of the clock is not yet known. But the market for smart watches in general looks rather promising with the sales expected to doubled between 2015 and 2017.

Anima’s major sharehold is Chinese Goerteks. The milion dollar company listed on Shenzhen stock market invested 10 million euro (94 million SEK) in Anima back in 2015 and owns 75% of the company.

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