Microsoft has apparently acquired N-trig and its 190 employees for somewhere around $200 million. The Israeli company is responsible for making the special pen that’s so important to the Surface Pro 3 experience, as well as a few other digital pens and some chips for touch screens. The company’s employees will be joining Microsoft Israel for research and development.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) is buying N-trig, an Israeli provider of digital pens and chips for touch screens, for at least $200 million, the Calcalist financial news website said on Thursday. Most of N-trig’s 190 workers will be integrated into Microsoft Israel and will be part of a new research and development center, Calcalist said, without citing sources. Officials at N-trig and Microsoft in Israel could not be reached for comment. N-trig was valued at $75 million when it raised money privately last February. N-trig had revenue of $36.7 million in 2013, up 38 percent from 2012. Revenue totaled $20.6 million in the first half of 2014, when it sold 1.3 million digital pens, more than three times the amount it sold in the same period of 2013.