Airbnb Signs Agreement to Acquire HotelTonight

7th March 2019 - Airbnb’s mission is to create a world where anyone can belong anywhere. To advance our mission, we are reimagining travel by building an end-to-end travel platform that combines where you stay, what you do, and how you get there, all in one place. Today, we are building on this work by signing an agreement to acquire HotelTonight. HotelTonight is a hotel-booking service focused on making last-minute trips easy and fun, offering guests seamless, on-demand booking for boutique and independent hotels. Brian Chesky, Airbnb Co-Founder, CEO and Head of Community, said, “A big part of building an end-to-end travel platform is serving every guest, whether they plan their trip a year or a day in advance.  Working with the incredible team at HotelTonight, we will offer guests an unparalleled last-minute travel experience that provides unique, memorable hospitality on every trip, on any schedule, at any time.” https://press.airbnb.com/airbnb-signs-agreement-to-acquire-hoteltonight/

Citrix Announces the Acquisition of Sapho for $200 Million
Citrix has acquired Sapho, and plans to integrate Sapho into Citrix Workspace. Sapho has been steadily updating its employee portal platform as well as integrating with dozens of enterprise apps. including Salesforce, Workday, Concur and Microsoft's Outlook. Via the acquisition, Citrix can give Workspace more hooks into enterprise applications. In a press release, Tim Minahan of Citrix said employee experience will be critical to retaining workers. According to both companies, the integration of Sapho into Citrix Workspace will be completed in the second half of 2019. When the integration is complete, a Citrix Workspace user will log in and be presented with a personalized work feed via Sapho, showing communications, updates about on-going projects and tasks to complete.
https://www.citrix.com/blogs/2018/11/15/citrix-acquires-sapho/

Civica acquires delivery management software specialist TranSend Solutions
Civica Group, an organisation which offers business-critical software, digital solutions and managed services for the public sector and regulated markets, has announced that Civica UK Limited, the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, has acquired specialist software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, TranSend Solutions Limited. TranSend is one of the UK’s leading providers of delivery management software to organisations with complex logistics and transport requirements. As part of the Group’s growth strategy, the acquisition adds new cloud software and customers to complement Civica’s existing TranMan software family for the sector. David Cook, Managing Director at TranSend, said, “Finding new ways to improve efficiency and enhance customer service in the delivery management process is our priority. We are delighted to be joining Civica which will bring us unparalleled opportunities in broadening our capability and reaching new customers in different sectors. It is also good news for our customers as we now have access to additional operational, development and support resource to sustain our growth.” David Cook, Managing Director at TranSend, said, “Finding new ways to improve efficiency and enhance customer service in the delivery management process is our priority. We are delighted to be joining Civica which will bring us unparalleled opportunities in broadening our capability and reaching new customers in different sectors.”  https://www.transendsolutions.com/news-media/civica-acquires-delivery-management-software-specialist-transend-solutions

Cognizant Acquires Meritsoft, an Award-Winning Fintech Innovator in Post-Trade Processing
Teaneck, NJ - 5th March 2019 - Cognizant has announced it has acquired  Meritsoft, a privately-held financial software company based in Dublin, Ireland. Meritsoft is best known for its FINBOS platform for post-trade processing, an intelligent automation solution for managing taxes, fees, commissions, and cash flow functions between financial institutions.  Meritsoft's products are currently used by five of the world's eight leading investment banks. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Cognizant and Meritsoft have a track record of working together, meeting demand for integrated solutions that leverage the agility of Meritsoft's FINBOS platform and Cognizant's managed services and digital operations capabilities. "Increased compliance and regulatory obligations, focus on operational efficiency, and a range of new digital technologies are among the forces that have led many of the world's leading financial institutions to automate processes using Meritsoft and its FINBOS platform," said Sean Middleton, President, Cognizant Accelerator.  "Banking and financial services is one of the largest industries that Cognizant serves.  Meritsoft brings proven automation expertise in case management, regulatory compliance, payment and settlement of claims, and tax and brokerage cash flows to help our clients in transforming their businesses for the digital era."
https://news.cognizant.com/2019-03-05-Cognizant-Acquires-Meritsoft-an-Award-Winning-Fintech-Innovator-in-Post-Trade-Processing

Nintex Acquires Robotic Process Automation Provider EnableSoft, Maker of Foxtrot RPA
Bellevue, Washingotn – 4th March 2019 - Nintex, a process management and automation organisation, has announced its acquisition of Robotic Process Automation (RPA) provider, EnableSoft, maker of Foxtrot RPA, to bring Nintex customers and partners powerful, easy-to-use RPA capabilities with the fastest time to value. "Acquiring EnableSoft Foxtrot RPA delivers on Nintex's strategic plan for offering the industry's most complete process platform to manage, automate and optimize business processes across all departments and industries," said Nintex CEO Eric Johnson. "Foxtrot RPA aligns perfectly with our product design principles: to make solutions that are powerful and easy to use, drive fast time to value, lowest total cost of ownership, and incredible satisfaction. Operations, IT and process professionals use the Nintex Process Cloud to quickly improve how people work, with clicks not code, to deliver robust and flexible solutions to help improve their operations and digitally transform their businesses."
https://news.nintex.com/2019-03-04-Nintex-Acquires-Robotic-Process-Automation-Provider-EnableSoft-Maker-of-Foxtrot-RPA

Juniper Networks Announces Intent to Acquire Mist Systems to Bring AI to IT
Sunnyvale, California – 4th March 2019 - Juniper Networks, an organisation specialising in automated, scalable and secure networks, has announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Mist Systems, a pioneer in cloud-managed wireless networks powered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). The deal will enhance Juniper’s enterprise networking portfolio by combining Mist’s next-generation Wireless LAN (WLAN) platform with Juniper’s best-in-class wired LAN, SD-WAN and security solutions to deliver unsurpassed end-to-end user and IT experiences. Under the terms of the agreement, Juniper Networks will acquire Mist for aggregate consideration of $405 million, subject to adjustment, payable in cash and the assumption of outstanding equity awards. The proposed acquisition is expected to close in Juniper Networks’ fiscal second quarter, subject to regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. It is expected to be slightly dilutive to FY’19 Non-GAAP EPS and slightly accretive to Non-GAAP EPS in FY’20.
https://newsroom.juniper.net/press-releases/juniper-networks-announces-intent-acquire-mist-systems-bring-ai-it-delivering

Mobile bank Chime joins unicorn club with $200m funding round
5th March - US mobile banking startup Chime has raised $200 million at a $1.5 billion valuation in a Series D funding round led by DST Global. New investors General Atlantic, Coatue, Iconiq Capital and Dragoneer Investment Group joined the round alongside existing investors Forerunner Ventures, Cathay Innovation and Menlo Ventures. The round sees Chime triple its valuation from June, when it raised $70 million in Series C funding led by Menlo Ventures. Founded in 2013, San Francisco-based Chime now boasts more than three million account holders for its fee-free, user-friendly banking app, which provides an accompanying debit card - on which the business earns interchange revenue - and auto-savings account. Chime doesn’t have a bank license, but safeguards customer accounts through a deal with The Bancorp Bank. The new funding will be used to increase headcount and introduce new products related to short-term lending and credit building.
https://www.chimebank.com/press/

Web Content-Recommendation Firm Outbrain to Acquire Native-Ad Specialist, Ligatus
Cologne, Germany - 26th February 2019 - Outbrain Inc., a company that recommends content on the web, has announced an agreement to acquire Ligatus, a fully owned subsidiary of media giant, Bertelsmann group, in a stock deal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Headquartered in Cologne, Ligatus is a leading European content recommendation company with other offices across Germany France, Spain, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands. Ligatus’ solutions bring advertisers and publishers together through high-impact, non-intrusive native ad placements, leveraging a mobile-first solution for marketers to build awareness and engagement with their audiences. Delivering more than 37 billion ad impressions per month, Ligatus offers tailored and contextual advertising alongside publisher content in a multi-device format, while guaranteeing brand safety. Outbrain co-CEO, David Kostman, commente: “The acquisition of Ligatus is part of our market consolidation strategy and will allow us to expand our native offering to marketers and strengthen the relationship with our publisher partners. This transaction will grow Outbrain’s footprint in key new European markets..."
https://www.outbrain.com/news/