Microsoft announces agreement to acquire Affirmed Networks to deliver new opportunities for a global 5G ecosystem
Masachusetts - 26th March 2020 - Microsoft has announced it is acquiring Affirmed Networks, a start-up that offers fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network solutions, for an undisclosed amount. The company wants to integrate Affirmed Networks’ technology into Microsoft Azure to allow the telecommunications industry to deploy and maintain 5G networks via the cloud, as opposed to just via hardware and software. Commenting, Microsoft's VP, Azure Networking, Yousef Khalidi, wrote in a blog post: "As we’ve seen with other technology transformations, we believe that software can play an important role in helping advance 5G and deliver new network solutions that offer step-change advancements in speed, cost and security." Affirmed Networks also appointed a new CEO, Anand Krishnamurthy, just yesterday.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2020/03/26/microsoft-announces-agreement-to-acquire-affirmed-networks-to-deliver-new-opportunities-for-a-global-5g-ecosystem/
Fintech Unicorn Brex Acquires Three Start-Ups - Improves its Security, Core Tech & e-Commerce product
San Francisco – 24th March 2020 - FinTech Unicorn start-up, Brex, has announced that the company has made three acquisitions to help bolster its technology, security, product and talent team. All three San Francisco start-ups Compose Labs, Neji and Landria, will join the start-up’s portfolio. Henrique Dubugras, co-Founder and co-CEO of Brex, said: “Brex is committed to helping growing businesses scale, especially in challenging environments. We look forward to bringing the talented team members at Neji, Compose Labs and Landria onto the Brex team.” Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.
https://brex.com/
https://news.crunchbase.com/news/brex-buys-three-san-francisco-startups-to-complement-its-product-line/
Thoma Bravo Completes Acquisition of Instructure for Approximately $2 Billion
San Francisco and Salt Lake City 24th March 2020 - Thoma Bravo, LLC, a private equity firm focused on the software and technology-enabled services sectors, and Instructure have announced that they have completed a transaction in which Thoma Bravo has acquired Instructure in an all-cash transaction that valued the company at an aggregate equity value of approximately $2 billion. With the completion of the acquisition, Instructure's common stock ceased trading and the company is no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo, said: "Thoma Bravo has followed Instructure's compelling story and has been impressed with the deep relationships it has built with its customers who depend on the company's world-class learning management solutions. Now more than ever, the technology platforms that Instructure provides are critical to supporting flexible and dynamic environments for learning. We look to leverage our deep roots in software to grow Instructure and develop its products by providing the financial and operational resources it needs for this next chapter of growth."
https://www.thomabravo.com/press-releases/thoma-bravo-completes-acquisition-of-instructure
Audm Acquired by the New York Times to Turn Articles into Digital Audio
23rd March 2020 - The New York Times Company has announced it has acquired Audm, the subscription-based audio app that offers listeners the world’s best longform journalism, read aloud word-for-word by celebrated audiobook narrators. Launched in 2016 by Ryan Wegner and Christian Brink, Audm transforms longform articles into audio. Audm users can listen to hours of new stories every week, from publications including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic and a host of other publishers. The Audm app is available to download on iOS and Android. Following the acquisition, Mr. Wegner, Audm’s director of spoken word audio production, and Mr. Brink, the director of product for Audm, as well as the rest of the Audm team, have joined the Times Company. According to The New York Times’ announcement, Audm will continue to introduce hours of new stories every week, including from The New York Times and other publishers. https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/23/the-new-york-times-company-acquires-audm-an-app-that-turns-longform-journalism-into-audio/
Facebank Group and fuboTV Announce Definitive Merger Agreement
New York – 23rd March 2020 – FaceBank Group, Inc, a celebrity and sports focused virtual entertainment company, and fuboTV Inc., a live TV streaming platform, have announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement. Immediately following the closing of the merger, fuboTV will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of FaceBank, and FaceBank will be renamed fuboTV Inc. The combined company is expected to be headquartered in New York and led by fuboTV CEO David Gandler as CEO. Additional announcements regarding the combined company’s management structure and the Board of Directors will be forthcoming. Commenting, fuboTV Chief Executive, David Gandler, said: “The business combination of FaceBank Group and fuboTV accelerates our ability to build a category-defining company and supports our goal to provide consumers with a technology-driven cable TV replacement service for the whole family. With our growing businesses in the US, and recent beta launches in Canada and Europe, fuboTV is well-positioned to achieve its goal of becoming a world-leading live TV streaming platform for premium sports, news, and entertainment content.”
https://f588aab3-78f2-4b33-81d5-476065f267cd.filesusr.com/ugd/4c4d80_9cc057f90cec43fd8159b376a4ea6879.pdf
Topia Acquires Monaeo
San Francisco – 17th March 2020 - Global Talent Mobility spoecialist, Topia, has announced its acquisition of Monaeo, the technology company that manages business travel compliance for enterprises and individuals. With the addition of Monaeo, which delivers end-to-end business travel visibility, management, compliance and audit defence, Topia further solidifies its position as the most comprehensive Global Talent Mobility platform on the market. Topia will now empower enterprises to effectively manage end-to-end global talent mobility —from short-term business travel to long-term assignments and relocations—to drive competitive advantage. The acquisition is expected to close the week of March 16, pending shareholder approval. Commenting, Topia CEO, Shawn Farshchi, said: “Business travel compliance is a key concern for global organizations, considering on average 30-50% of their employees undertake significant business travel every year. With Monaeo, we can now provide our enterprise customers with a complete Global Talent Mobility solution that covers every mobility scenario, and enables them to have visibility into where their people are in the world. This helps mitigate compliance risks and gives them the ability to operate with confidence and the talent efficiency and agility they need to compete at a global scale.”
https://www.topia.com/company/news/topia-acquires-monaeo/
Fiserv to Enhance Omni-commerce Experience with Acquisition of Bypass Mobile
Brookfield, Wisconsin - 18th March 2020 - Global provider of payments and financial services technology solutions, Fiserv inc, has announced the acquisition of independent software vendor (ISV) and leading innovator in enterprise point-of-sale systems, Bypass Mobile. The acquisition will help power Fiserv’s next generation of omni-commerce capabilities, enabling enterprise businesses to deliver a seamless customer experience that spans physical and digital channels. Devin McGranahan, Senior Group President, Global Business Solutions at Fiserv, commented: “Adding Bypass to our portfolio will make it easier for our clients to realize their digital transformation strategy, delivering interactions their customers are demanding. With this combination, we will improve the omni-commerce experience for businesses and their customers, making it easier and more efficient to pay for goods and services. We look forward to working with Brandon and the Bypass team to make omni-commerce smoother and simpler for clients and their customers.”
https://newsroom.fiserv.com/news-releases/news-release-details/fiserv-enhance-omni-commerce-experience-acquisition-bypass
Accuity Acquires Apply Financial to Provide Real-Time Straight Through Processing and Account Validation Payment Solutions
12th March 2020 - Accuity, a global provider of financial crime screening, payments and know your customer (KYC) solutions, and part of RELX, has announced that it has acquired Apply Financial Limited. The acquisition supports Accuity’s strategy of providing banks, corporates, non-banking financial institutions (NBFIs) and fintechs with global and domestic payment and account validation solutions that reduce payment processing costs while increasing the speed of transactions. David White, EVP Global Payments & KYC at Accuity, commented: “The payments industry is in the midst of a drastic transformation, with speed and efficiency at the forefront of its evolution. In the near term, Apply Financial’s advanced technology will enable us to offer clients a cloud-based, real-time payments and account validation solution to dramatically increase customer STP rates and provide payments certainty. In the longer-term, the technology will fuel our innovation and enable us to deliver the next generation of payments intelligence solutions to meet our customers’ requirements.”
https://accuity.com/press-room/
