Tech firm founded by Scots entrepreneur sold to US group in bumper £270m deal

A software testing business founded by Scottish entrepreneur George Mackintosh has been acquired by a US group in a bumper $330 million (£267m) deal.

Inverness-born George Mackintosh founded Eggplant in the UK before establishing its US headquarters in Boulder, Colorado in 2010. Picture by Stewart Attwood

London-headquartered Eggplant had been majority owned by global investment firm The Carlyle Group since 2016. It has been bought by California-headquartered Keysight Technologies, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Utilising artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics, Eggplant’s platform can test any technology on any device, operating system or browser at any layer. Since the onset of Covid-19, global demand for its services and products have accelerated along with those of Keysight.

Inverness-born Mackintosh founded Eggplant before establishing its US headquarters in Boulder, Colorado in 2010. The company, which has a headcount of more than 200, then expanded operations to Germany and Japan.

Edinburgh-based Mackintosh was Eggplant’s chief executive from 2008 to 2017, remained on the board until the acquisition was completed and was the single largest private shareholder at the time of the deal.

Keysight Technologies traces its roots back to Hewlett-Packard in South Queensferry in the 1970s, was subsequently spun-out of HP and continues to have an operating base in Edinburgh.

A spokesman for Mackintosh said: “The pace of digitisation has only increased in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and Eggplant is one of many tech players to have benefited from this trend.

“George has founded and managed equity-backed tech companies for 28 years and is highly skilled in software, services and hardware sales to global businesses in Europe, North America and Asia.”

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