Schneider Electric Buys Cognite for $3.1B in Largest Norwegian Software Exit Ever

Quick Facts

• Schneider Electric will pay $3.1 billion in cash for 100% of Cognite, a Norwegian industrial AI software company founded in 2016.
• Cognite reported more than $170 million in revenue in 2025, with 36% year-over-year ARR bookings growth.
• The deal marks the largest Norwegian software and AI exit to date and one of the largest industrial software transactions in Europe.

Schneider Electric announced June 30 it will acquire Cognite Holding B.V. for $3.1 billion in an all-cash transaction. The deal gives Schneider ownership of Cognite’s industrial data and AI platform, which it plans to fold into AVEVA, its wholly owned industrial software subsidiary.

Cognite was founded in Oslo in 2016 and spun out of Aker, the Norwegian industrial conglomerate. The company relocated its global headquarters to Tempe, Arizona in early 2025. It now employs more than 800 people worldwide, with offices in Tokyo, Houston, and Austin.

For Aker, the transaction delivers approximately $1.48 billion in cash proceeds, representing roughly 20 times its invested capital. Cognite raised a total of $225 million across three funding rounds before this exit, including a $150 million round in May 2021 that valued the company at $1.6 billion.

The company’s two core products drove that growth. Cognite Data Fusion ingests and contextualizes engineering and operational data from legacy industrial equipment. Atlas AI adds a generative and agentic layer that automates workflows and accelerates decisions inside plant operations, asset management, and engineering processes.

Cognite describes Atlas AI as a low-code industrial AI agents workbench. A practical example: on a factory floor, an agent can detect a failing pump, order the replacement part, and schedule the repair, with a human approving the action.

Customers have included BP, Saudi Aramco, Aker BP, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and TechnipFMC. Aramco Overseas acquired a 7.4% stake in Cognite in February 2022 by purchasing Aker BP’s shares in the company.

Schneider Electric CEO Olivier Blum said the acquisition would strengthen AVEVA in high-growth market segments. “Cognite has built something rare, a truly industrial grade AI platform that turns the complexity of operational data into a competitive advantage,” Blum said in a statement. “By bringing Cognite into Schneider Electric and AVEVA, we unite the world’s most comprehensive energy management and automation infrastructure with the software and AI capabilities to make it natively intelligent.”

Aker President and CEO Oyvind Eriksen said the deal gives Cognite a global industrial owner with a strong position in energy management and automation.

The transaction is expected to close in the coming quarters. Once complete, Cognite will be fully consolidated within Schneider Electric’s Industrial Automation business segment.

For software founders watching the industrial sector, this deal signals where large industrial operators are directing capital. The $3.1 billion price tag on a company with $170 million in revenue and 36% ARR growth reflects strong demand for platforms that can make legacy operational data usable by AI systems.

Read more: Schneider Electric acquires Cognite for $3.1B in industrial AI push