What ept GmbH does

ept GmbH is a German family-owned manufacturer of board-to-board PCB connectors, SMT connectors, press-fit connectors, and modular connector systems. Founded in Buching, Bavaria around 1970 (firmographics cite 1973), the company has operated for over 50 years and is headquartered in Peiting, Germany, with approximately 1,200 employees across sites in Germany, Czech Republic, USA, and China. The firm serves primarily the automotive sector (with 100 billion contacts installed in vehicles for infotainment, ADAS, e-mobility, and C-V2X), as well as industrial automation, medical electronics, aerospace/defense, transportation, and embedded computing.

The company's core technology portfolio includes the proprietary ScaleX gender-neutral contact system with dual-sided contacts for high mechanical robustness, the Zero8 (0.8 mm pitch, 16 Gbit/s), Colibri (0.5 mm pitch, 25+ Gbit/s), One27, EC.8 (28 Gbit/s), flexilink press-fit, Velox backplane, and DIN 41612 / hm2.0 product families. ept distinguishes itself through full vertical integration — in-house development, stamping, band galvanizing, plastic injection molding, and final assembly — and through its Nickel-Phosphorus (NiP) surface technology, which reduces precious metal consumption by up to 90% and CO2 footprint by 85% versus gold plating, with over 1 billion contacts produced at 0 ppm error rate.

The business model is enterprise hardware sales through direct field sales complemented by a global network of regional distributors (e.g., Swelex AB in Sweden). Pricing is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Revenue is generated from standard catalog products and custom connector solutions, with additional revenue from press-fit tooling and processing equipment, plus technical consulting and customized webinars. The firm holds ISO 9001:2015, IATF 16949:2016, ISO 14001:2015, and ISO 50001:2018 certifications, and is private with no public listing, no disclosed funding history, and no parent company.

Name

ept GmbH

Legal name

ept GmbH

Website

https://ept.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

1970

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

ept GmbH is a German family-owned manufacturer of board-to-board PCB and press-fit connectors, serving the automotive, industrial automation, medical, aerospace, and embedded computing sectors through direct enterprise sales and global distributors, with full vertical integration in-house.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

PCB Connectors

NAICS

Electronic Connector Manufacturing (334417), Current-Carrying Wiring Device Manufacturing (335931)

SIC

Electronic Connectors (3678), Electronic Components & Accessories (3670), Electronic Components, Nec (3679)

akta.pro primary industry

Connectors & Interconnect Components (Industrial connectors, terminals, sockets, backplane) (IMAGAJAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Printed Electronics & Advanced Substrates (HDI, IC Substrates, Embedded Components) (HDAHAOAK)

Keywords

• PCB connector manufacturing
• Board-to-board connectors
• Press-fit technology
• Automotive electronics
• Industrial connectors

Headquarters

HQ city

Peiting

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices6 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Standard Catalog Connectors: Sale of standardized PCB connector products including Zero8, Colibri, One27, EC.8, DIN 41612, flexilink, VarPol, PC/104, hm2.0, Velox, and Power Terminals product families.
2. Custom/Individual Solutions: Custom-designed connectors and solutions tailored to specific customer requirements, leveraging vertical integration from design through production to assembly.
3. Press-fit Technology & Assembly Services: Sale of press-fit connectors and processing equipment/tools for connector assembly on PCBs.
4. Technical Consulting & Webinars: Customized webinars and technical consulting services for connector selection and application guidance.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

ept GmbH designs, manufactures, and sells PCB connectors — including board-to-board SMT connectors, press-fit connectors, edge card connectors, and high-speed backplane systems — for automotive, industrial automation, medical, aerospace, and embedded computing applications. The company operates a fully vertically integrated value chain from in-house development, stamping, galvanizing, plastic injection molding, to final assembly, offering both standard catalog product families and custom connector solutions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Colibri: SMT board-to-board connector series with 0.5 mm pitch, supporting data rates up to 25+ Gbit/s, compliant with COM Express, CoreExpress, and nano-ETXexpress specifications.
• Zero8
• One27
• EC.8
• flexilink
• Velox
• VarPol
• hm2.0

Products and services

• Zero8 - 0.8 mm SMT Board-to-Board Connector
• Colibri - 0.5 mm SMT Connector
• One27 - 1.27 mm SMT Connector
• Float27 - 1.27 mm SMT Connector
• EC.8 - 0.8 mm Edge Card SMT Connector
• DIN 41612 / IEC 60603-2 Connectors
• flexilink Press-Fit PCB Connectors
• VarPol Pin & Socket Headers
• PC/104 and PC/104-Plus Connectors
• hm2.0 Hard Metric Connectors
• Velox High-Speed Backplane Connector System
• Power Terminals
• Custom Connector Solutions

Quantifiable outcome

• 100 billion contacts installed in automotive industry with zero-defect principle
• +7 more outcomes

Named customers1 record

Segments7 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Swelex ABcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 1 January 2025Expanded partnership with Swedish distributor Swelex AB to strengthen board-to-board connector portfolio in the Swedish market. Swelex benefits from European manufacturing, reduced logistics costs, and fast technical support. Partnership enables ept to strengthen market presence in Europe and enhance attractiveness in the Scandinavian market.
• RosenbergercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJoint development partnership with Rosenberger for automotive hybrid connectors combining expertise from both companies in connector technology and automotive applications.
• PICMGcoreTechnology or Integrationept's Zero8 connector selected for inclusion in the new PICMG ModBlox7 specification for modular box PCs, establishing technical standard for interoperability in industrial computing applications.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Hirose Electric: Japanese specialist connector manufacturer with a strong board-to-board, FPC/FFC, and high-speed portfolio directly comparable to ept's Zero8 and Colibri SMT families in miniaturization and high-frequency performance.
• Phoenix Contact: German-headquartered manufacturer of industrial connectivity, PCB terminal blocks, and high-reliability connectors with deep overlap to ept in industrial automation and automotive-grade board-to-board interconnects.
• HARTING: German family-owned industrial connector specialist with a comparable portfolio of board-to-board, PCB, and industrial-grade interconnect products serving automotive, industrial automation, and transportation — directly competing with ept in ruggedized, high-reliability connectors.
• Japan Aviation Electronics Industry (JAE): Japanese board-to-board connector specialist with automotive and industrial portfolios that overlap with ept's high-reliability interconnect offering, including miniaturized SMT and press-fit products.
• Yamaichi Electronics: Specialist in test & burn-in sockets and board-to-board connectors used in semiconductor test, embedded computing, and industrial applications — overlapping with ept's high-speed and ruggedized connector families.
• Würth Elektronik: German family-owned electronics manufacturer with a connector division producing board-to-board and PCB interconnect products serving automotive and industrial customers in direct competition with ept.
• Samtec: US-based specialist in board-to-board and high-speed interconnects with strong overlap to ept's Zero8 and Colibri product lines, particularly for embedded computing and high-speed data applications.

Broad incumbents

• TE Connectivity: Global market leader in connectors and sensors with an extensive portfolio spanning board-to-board, automotive, industrial, and aerospace — competing broadly with ept but at materially greater scale and breadth.
• Amphenol: Global connector incumbent with overlapping automotive, industrial, and high-speed interconnect offerings; competes with ept across multiple verticals via a much larger product and customer footprint.
• Molex: Broad-line connector manufacturer (part of Koch Industries) with automotive, industrial, and embedded-computing connector families that directly overlap ept's served markets, but at significantly larger scale.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ept_GmbH
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCGDemSBXoHObZNd4r3L1fHg
• Facebookfacebook.com/eptGmbHPeiting
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/ept-gmbh
• Instagraminstagram.com/ept_gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about ept GmbH