OutSystems acquires Ionic to unite the power of open source mobile development

OutSystems, a global provider of high-performance application development, announced the acquisition of Ionic, one of the most popular platforms for developing mobile and desktop applications with web technology. OutSystems and Ionic will work together to help IT leaders transform the way they build, deliver, and continuously update business-critical applications with a focus on quality, performance, security, and scalability.

OutSystems and Ionic support a variety of development approaches, ranging from open source to high-performance low-code, with a focus on enterprise-grade applications that include built-in security and scalability. As a result, customers can select the tools that best suit their application requirements, as well as the expertise and coding preferences of their development teams. Ionic and its open source products will continue to operate independently, supporting and growing their global developer community, and will supplement the OutSystems Platform, which includes the OutSystems Cloud and cloud-native development environments.

“We founded OutSystems to help customers innovate faster and fundamentally change how enterprise software is developed. Ionic is a continuation and expansion of this vision,” said Paulo Rosado, OutSystems Founder and CEO.

“The Ionic team, technology, and community are integral to our strategy as we redefine the future of software development. Like us, the Ionic team is laser-focused on building the best experience for developers. Together, we’ll do even more to help enterprise software teams massively improve their performance and deliver strategic applications that were once only achievable for elite development teams with unlimited budgets and resources.”

“I’m extremely proud of what Ionic and our community have accomplished and know that together Ionic and OutSystems will be an unstoppable force in enterprise application development,” said Max Lynch, Co-founder and CEO of Ionic. “OutSystems shares our community-centric approach and focus on making software development easier and more accessible, whether you’re a solo developer or a larger business. With OutSystems, we’ll be able to take our vision even further, provide additional value to our customers and community members, and significantly increase our investments in open source product development and R&D.”

Ionic is the creator of a number of well-known open source projects, including Ionic Framework, a mobile UI toolkit; Capacitor, a tool for natively deploying web applications; and Stencil, a toolchain for developing web component-based design systems. Professional developers and teams can use Ionic’s developer-friendly products to build, secure, and deliver enterprise-grade applications in less time. Ionic’s open source and commercial products have been widely adopted and used by over five million developers worldwide, powering hundreds of thousands of apps in app stores. Learn more about the Ionic platform by clicking here.

JMP Securities, a Citizens Company, served as the transaction’s sole financial advisor, and Polsinelli PC served as the transaction’s legal advisor. OutSystems’ legal counsel in the transaction was Hogan Lovells LLP.