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Pivot International takes Saint Louis firm in large acquisition

In one of its largest acquisitions ever, Lenexa-based Pivot International has acquired Digital Concepts, located on the opposite side of the state. The acquisition nearly doubles the employee count at Pivot and marks its ninth acquisition in the last three years.

On of the largest acquisitions in company history has closed for metro-based Pivot International, according to owner and CEO Mark Dohnalek.

The acquisition of Digital Concepts near St. Louis roughly doubles the number of employees working for Pivot with 350 new employees.

Based in Maryland Heights, Mo., Digital Concepts is a design, engineering and manufacturing firm, best known for the technology behind some of the most popular and advanced treadmill and indoor cycling home fitness machines on the market.

“Their expertise is designing and building the all video streaming, motor controls and embedded electronics that make all those systems work,” Dohnalek said.

This isn’t the first foray into the fitness space for Pivot, which designed custom display consoles for treadmills in the 1970s through the 1990s. It was a direct competitor to Digital Concepts before exiting the fitness space, which is now a $100 billion industry.

Digital Concepts is the ninth acquisition for Pivot in the past three years and the second acquisition this year. Pivot acquired Phoenix-based Solar Pool Technologies Inc., a designer and manufacturer of robots that skim pools, in June.

Digital Concepts is a great fit for Pivot, Dohnalek said, and it adds to Pivot’s capabilities on those fronts and also diversifies it with products that are extremely hot right now.

Pivot now has 16 facilities around the world.