Saeco

Saeco was founded in 1981 in Gaggio Montano, near Bologna, as both the official Saeco Professional page and Evoca Group's timeline state; in 1985, according to Saeco Professional, it became the first company in the world to develop the "bean-to-cup" system, a fully automatic way of brewing espresso from whole bean to cup. In 1999 Saeco acquired the Gaggia brand; in 2009 the company was bought by Philips.

Today the Saeco brand is published by two distinct entities, according to their respective official sources. For home use, the saeco.com site and Versuni's "Brands" page state that Saeco, Gaggia and Walita are registered trademarks of Koninklijke Philips N.V., with Versuni (formerly Philips Domestic Appliances) running product lines such as Xelsis and GranAroma. On the professional side, the Saeco Professional division joined the N&W Global Vending group in 2017, and at the end of that year N&W renamed itself Evoca Group (headquartered in Valbrembo, Bergamo); Evoca's timeline adds that the group acquired licences to use the Saeco and Gaggia brands in the professional market. Saeco Professional states that it serves offices, Ho.Re.Ca. and vending.

In short, the official sources place the Saeco brand for home machines with Philips, managed by Versuni, and for professional machines with Evoca Group, which uses it under licence.