• by Chuck Martin , October 24, 2019

PTC has signed an agreement to acquire Onshape, a Cambridge-based software as a service product development platform company for $470 million.

Onshape, founded in 2012, combines data management with collaboration tools and computer aided design and has received more than $150 million in investments.

Boston-based PTC uses advanced augmented and mixed reality to show in-the-field personnel real-time, visual data details on products, such as for in-the-field repairs.

The acquisition is expected to facilitate PTC’s growth in the small business market, Jim Heppelmann, PTC president and CEO said in a conference call with media and analysts today.

“We see small and medium-sized CAD customers in the high-growth part of the CAD market shifting their interest toward SaaS delivery models, and we expect interest from larger customers to grow over time,” said Heppelmann.