Boss Insights - Quarterly Tech M&A Round-Up - July 2022

LATEST ACQUISITION NEWS

Thoma Bravo Acquires IAM Company Ping for $2.8 Billion
Denver - 3rd August 2022 - Ping Identity, an Identity and Access Management (IAM) company and provider of the Intelligent Identity solution for the enterprise, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by software investment firm, Thoma Bravo, in an all-cash transaction valued at an Enterprise Value of approximately $2.8 billion. "This compelling transaction is a testament to Ping Identity's leading enterprise identity solutions, our talented team, and our outstanding customers and partners," said Andre Durand, Ping Identity's Chief Executive Officer. "Identity security and frictionless user experiences have become essential in the digital-first economy and Ping Identity is better positioned than ever to capitalize on the growing demand from modern enterprises for robust security solutions.." Seth Boro, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo, commented, "A tectonic shift is occurring in intelligent identity solutions for the enterprise. Ping Identity's unique capabilities and strong position in enterprise identity security make it a great platform to deliver customer outcomes, expand into new use cases and support digital transformations."
https://www.thomabravo.com/press-releases/ping-identity-to-be-acquired-by-thoma-bravo-for-2.8-billion

 

Accenture to Acquire Sentia in the Netherlands, Belgium and Bulgaria to Bolster Infrastructure Engineering Capabilities Across the Cloud Continuum
Amsterdam – 2nd August 2022 – Accenture has agreed to acquire Sentia’s businesses in the Netherlands, Belgium and Bulgaria. With headquarters in the Netherlands, the Sentia group is a cloud consulting company that manages private and public cloud migrations and provides digital-experience monitoring services. The acquisition expands Accenture’s Cloud First capabilities to provide end-to-end cloud infrastructure services across the cloud continuum of public, private and sovereign clouds. The news arrives as the plethora of cloud options create more complexity for organizations as they navigate different architectures, burgeoning innovations and changing regulations. "Total enterprise reinvention starts with a solid digital core. To activate this digital core, organizations need to build a scalable, fit-for-purpose cloud foundation that provides the strategic agility they need to ensure their resilience and future competitiveness,” said Karthik Narain, global lead for Accenture Cloud First. “Adding Sentia’s specialists will enhance Accenture Cloud First’s migration and modernization services aimed at getting clients’ workloads to their optimal location on the cloud continuum — from public to edge and everything in between.”
https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/accenture-to-acquire-sentia-in-the-netherlands-belgium-and-bulgaria-to-bolster-infrastructure-engineering-capabilities-across-the-cloud-continuum.htm
 

Accenture Acquires Tenbu to Expand Data and AI Capabilities and Unlock Business Value Across the Cloud Continuum
Sao Paulo, Brazil – 1st August 2022 – Accenture has acquired Tenbu, a cloud data firm that specializes in solutions for intelligent decision-making and planning through areas such as analytics, big data and machine learning. With more than 150 certifications, Tenbu’s team of 170 data specialists will join the Data & AI team within Accenture Cloud First. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "Our goal is to help clients with total enterprise reinvention by building their digital core, optimizing operations and accelerating growth – and cloud data and AI are fundamental to a strong digital core,” said Karthik Narain, global lead for Accenture Cloud First. “Adding the Tenbu team will expand our capabilities to help companies drive new services, growth and resilience using data from across the cloud continuum for intelligent decision-making.”
https://newsroom.accenture.com/news/accenture-acquires-tenbu-to-expand-data-and-ai-capabilities-and-unlock-business-value-across-the-cloud-continuum.htm

JULY ACQUISITIONS:

BD Acquires MedKeeper to Offer Cloud-based, Connected Pharmacy Software
Franklin Lakes, NJ - 28th July 2022 – Global medical technology company, BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), has announced it has acquired MedKeeper, a provider of modern, cloud-based pharmacy management applications. MedKeeper strategically complements BD's existing presence in the pharmacy – where the company has pioneered solutions in compounding, logistics workflow, controlled substance management and inventory optimization. Mike Garrison, Worldwide President of Medication Management Solutions at BD, commented, "Preparing the right dose for patients requires a combination of factors – including personnel, training, and compliance. Pharmacy leaders require IV workflow management technology that is personalized to their needs and works within their environment. Adding MedKeeper to our portfolio will enable us to offer our customers easy to use, customizable solutions that make meaningful and incremental progress in IV workflow management." The acquisition adds to company's recent growth in high-technology pharmacy solutions and further accelerates the company's commitment to Smart, Connected Care – offering a customizable platform to optimize IV workflow.
https://investors.bd.com/news-releases/news-release-details/bd-acquires-medkeeper-offer-cloud-based-connected-pharmacy

Other recent BD acquisition news:
https://investors.bd.com/news-releases/news-release-details/bd-completes-acquisition-parata-systems
 

Built Expands Commercial Real Estate Product Suite for Lenders with Acquisition of Nativ
Nashville, Tennessee – 29th July 2022 – Provider of software to real estate lenders and the construction industry, Built Technologies, has announced that it has acquired Nativ, a deal management platform for commercial real estate (CRE) lenders. The acquisition will enhance Built’s existing product suite for commercial lenders and enable improved underwriting and asset management capabilities across construction, transitional and stabilized assets. Built Co-Founder and CEO Chase Gilbert said, “After years working with top real estate lenders in the US and Canada, our customers began voicing their desire for us to help them solve new problems beyond just managing their construction loans. Our customers were experiencing difficulties with the underwriting and asset-management of loans as well as with aggregate portfolio management and reporting. When we were introduced to Nativ, the powerful tools to streamline these very processes were an obvious fit. This acquisition will also give Built access to a rich data set for how various real estate assets are performing, allowing us to provide innovative risk intelligence products to our customers over time.”  
https://getbuilt.com/news/built-acquires-nativ/
 

WebMD Health Corp. Acquires MNG Health
New York – 28th July 2022 - WebMD Health Corp., an Internet Brands company and a leader in health information services for physicians, other healthcare professionals and consumers, announced that it acquired MNG Health, a provider of technology-enabled marketing solutions for life sciences brands. The acquisition combines the core competencies of MNG Health with those of Medscape, WebMD's clinical information, education and point-of-care tools platform for healthcare professionals (HCPs). It also expands Medscape's capabilities in virtual events, pharmaceutical sales representative-enablement solutions, and omnichannel digital marketing. "Medscape's unrivaled global reach has been driven by our commitment to delivering innovative solutions to both the global medical community and our customers," said Vincent Muehter, Group General Manager/Senior Vice President, Medscape. "MNG Health shares our depth of knowledge of target audience information needs and preferences, and our focus on evolving to meet the dynamic changes and demands of the industry. Together, we can leverage our intelligence and insights to deepen strategic omnichannel engagement, serve our audiences and support our customers." 
https://www.internetbrands.com/news/

airSlate Expands Document Workflow and Automation Platform With Acquisition of DocHub
Boston, MA – 28th July 2022 – airSlate, a global document workflow and automation solutions company, announced it has acquired online PDF editor and document signing platform, DocHub. The deal will further accelerate DocHub’s product development and time to market while complementing airSlate’s award-winning document workflow automation platform which includes pdfFiller, airSlate, signNow, and US Legal Forms.  This deal follows a major milestone for airSlate in which the company achieved a $1.25 billion valuation with a recent $51.5 million funding round by G Squared and UiPath announced in June 2022. This acquisition is part of airSlate’s growth goals and vision to empower digital transformation for as many people as possible by expanding the platform’s offerings deeper into the Google Workspace Marketplace. “The best people to grow a company or a product are the teams that are the most passionate about the problems they are solving,” said Borya Shakhnovich, CEO and co-founder, airSlate. “We see this dedication in DocHub and their focus on the integration into the Google Workspace Marketplace. We are happy to welcome them into the airSlate organization and to bring new ideas and innovations to PDF, eSignature, and workflow solutions.”
https://www.airslate.com/news-and-press/acquisition-of-dochub
 

Quality One Officially Acquires Veteran Telematics Firm Q-Matics, Llc
Orlando, Florida – 28th July 2022 - Quality One Wireless (Q1) announced its acquisition of telematics service provider, Q-Matics, LLC. Q-Matics’ turn-key Fleet GPS™ tracking system is the backbone of its automated fleet management software, capturing the data needed to automate and manage fleets entirely remotely.  Its system’s easy-to-view Driver Reports and Downloadable data (which include statistics such as Driver Score, Drive time, Distance, Hard Braking, Excessive Acceleration, Cornering Speed, and Geofence Trip Idle) provide mechanisms to compare individual drivers against the fleet with pinpoint accuracy. Quality One already had a partial stake in Q-Matics, and the opportunity offered by the developing marketplace drove their decision to make a bid to acquire the organization, and integrate it with their product and service offerings.  Quality One Chief Executive Officer, John Chiorando, commented, "The growth we've seen in the telematics and tracking industries over the course of the past few years, with specific emphasis on it increasing acceptance in not only fleet tracking capacities but in the consumer-driven applications that accelerated throughout the pandemic made the wholesale acquisition of Q-Matics extremely attractive to us."
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/quality-one-officially-acquires-veteran-telematics-firm-q-matics-llc-301595091.html
 

Verbit Acquired Media Services Provider, Take 1
New York – 28th July 2022 – Verbit, a provider of voice AI transcription and captioning solutions, announced it has acquired Take 1, a company offering transcription, access and localization services for the media and entertainment sector, headquartered in the UK. The deal bolsters Verbit’s growing presence in Europe, following its acquisition of UK market research specialist, Take Note, in March. Verbit’s current customers will benefit from Take 1’s well-established industry expertise particularly in unscripted production workflows, OFCOM and FCC compliance and multi-language audio descriptions. The acquisition will also enhance its performance and delivery of UK English language requests. “The addition of Take 1 advances Verbit as the leading partner to deliver on every media access need including captioning, transcription and audio description,” said Tom Livne, CEO and Founder of Verbit. “I’m excited to provide enhanced service designed to meet our joint customers’ growing post-production needs, while investing more in the UK and European regions.”
https://verbit.ai/verbit-expands-its-media-expertise-acquires-media-services-provider-take-1/
 

adesso Acquires Quadox AG, Rises to Rank Among Top 5 SAP Analytics Market Leaders in Germany
Walldorf, Germany - 29th July 2022 - adesso has acquired Walldorf, Germany-based quadox AG, a company that specialises in innovative data management, SAP analytics and business intelligence solutions. Effective 1 September 2022, 35 SAP analytics experts, including quadox board members, Christian Schroeter and Rainer Bärmeier, will move to the Data and Analytics team at adesso, forming a strong SAP analytics unit of 70 specialists in all. The acquisition of quadox AG marks the fifth important strategic step that SAP Gold Partner adesso has taken in the SAP business segment over the past two years. Board member at adesso, Torsten Wegener, commented, “adesso supplies technological and industry know-how and years of expertise to support companies as they go about their digital transformation. Key building blocks include data-driven systems and the implementation and operation of SAP solutions – on premises and in the cloud. The combined SAP analytics unit will make us an even stronger and more capable player in the data and analytics segment, significantly reinforcing our position on the booming and dynamic SAP market..”
https://www.adesso.de/en/news/presse/expanding-sap-analytics-business-adesso-acquires-quadox-ag-rises-to-rank-among-top-5-sap-analytics-market-leaders-in-germany.jsp
 

Paragon ID Acquires Tracktio, Provider of RFID and RTLS (Real-Time Location Systems) Solutions
Barcelona, Spain – 19th July 2022 - Tracktio’s mission is to improve logistics, productivity and safety in operationally complex industries such as manufacturing, logistics, construction, oil and gas, mining and warehousing.  Their tracking software suite, TrackSphereTM, provides operational intelligence like track & trace workflows, location-based analytics, real-time inventory and personnel supervision to improve safety and productivity. TrackSphereTM integrates major tracking technologies and provides a comprehensive API (Application Programming Interface) for easy integration with client's software like ERP, MES, WMS, GIS and others. Partners and customers can also develop their own reports and dashboards leveraging the TrackSphereTM API. The company works directly with clients but also through a network of partners in over 20 countries and is a perfect fit for Paragon ID and its Real Time Location System offering, “RFiD Discovery”. The acquisition of Tracktio will allow RFiD Discovery to expand its solutions into more technologies such as GPS, LoRa, ultra-wideband (UWB), Quuppa, and optical identification as well as strengthening its offering into industrial market segments like manufacturing, mining and logistics.
https://www.paragon-id.com/en/inspiration/paragon-id-acquires-tracktio
 

The Michelin Group Acquired RoadBotics
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – 11th July 2022 –The Michelin Group acquired RoadBotics, a start-up that specialises in analysing road infrastructure images. Founded in 2016, RoadBotics leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to analyse visual data collected on roads by cameras (mainly smartphones)., These images are then transformed into actionable insights, via RoadBotics’ computer vision expertise, to help road managers identify priority maintenance areas. Michelin says the computer vision expertise developed by RoadBotics, combined with Michelin’s DDi know-how, will provide unique insights on driving behavior. The service will initially be available in North America before being rolled out in Europe. Commenting on the acquisition, Lorraine Frega, Distribution, Services & Solutions, Strategy, Innovation & Partnerships, Member of the Group Executive Committee, said: “The acquisition of RoadBotics will allow Michelin to enhance its offer in the field of data intelligence, for safer mobility.”
https://www.michelin.com/en/news/michelin-acquires-roadbotics/
 

JUNE ACQUISITIONS:

Walmart To Acquire AR Optical Tech Company Memomi
Bentonville, Arkansas – 29th June 2022 — Walmart and Memomi, an augmented reality (AR) optical tech company, announced they have entered into an agreement for Walmart to acquire Memomi. This reinforces Walmart’s commitment to frictionless and omnichannel optical care. Since 2019, Memomi has enabled digital measurements for all Walmart and Sam’s Optical customers, across more than 2,800 Walmart Vision Centers and 550 Sam’s Clubs, and powered the Optical eCommerce experience on SamsClub.com. Acquiring Memomi, an AR company, is the next step in Walmart’s journey of offering personalized, affordable access to optical care. This acquisition furthers Walmart Health & Wellness’ strategy to deliver integrated, omnichannel healthcare, leveraging data and technology to improve engagement, health equity and outcomes. “Customers are looking for access to care digitally, in their homes, and purchasing eyeglasses is no different,” said David Reitnauer, Vice President, Specialty Services, Walmart Health & Wellness. “This acquisition supports our Health & Wellness mission to provide accessible care to the communities we serve.”
https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2022/06/29/walmart-to-acquire-ar-optical-tech-company-memomi
 

Vertafore Acquires MGA Systems, Expanding and Enhancing Solutions for MGAs
Denver – 28th June 2022 – Insurance technology company, Vertafore®, announced that it acquired MGA Systems, a provider of purpose-built software for MGAs. In an increasingly competitive business environment, MGAs require solutions that can keep pace as they seek to expand into new specialized lines of business and retain their current customers. The acquisition of MGA Systems gives Vertafore customers access to policy administration and rating solutions that will be integrated into Vertafore's suite. This strengthens Vertafore’s already robust offering for MGAs and empowers these vital entities in the independent insurance channel to expand into new territories and deploy products for their clients with speed. "As the MGA market continues to grow, it is more important than ever for MGAs to have integrated technology solutions that strengthen their ability to make informed risk and pricing decisions,” said Amy Zupon, CEO of Vertafore. “MGA Systems has been at the forefront of the industry's work in this area. I am very pleased to welcome the MGA Systems team into the Vertafore family, along with the wealth of talent, passion, and expertise they bring.”
https://www.vertafore.com/resources/press-releases/vertafore-acquires-mga-systems-expanding-and-enhancing-solutions-mgas
 

Siemens Infrastructure Acquired Brightly Software for $1.6 Billion
Cary, NC – 27th June 2022 - Siemens Smart Infrastructure (SI), has signed an agreement to acquire Brightly Software, a US-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of asset and maintenance management solutions. The acquisition of the software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider of asset and maintenance management solutions is intended to help elevate Siemens’ position in the software market for building and infrastructure. Brightly’s asset management software is used by schools, governments, hospitals and manufacturers worldwide. Brightly is expected to benefit from Siemens’ global presence, while Siemens leverages the software provider’s footprint in the U.S. market. Siemens will realize significant synergies between Brightly’s capabilities and its own portfolio with an expected mid-triple-digit million net present value. The sale is expected to close by the end of the year. Roland Busch, President and CEO of Siemens AG, said, “This is another important step in our strategy as a focused technology company. By combining the real and digital worlds, we provide our customers with the technology required to drive their digital transformation to create the most sustainable and human-centric buildings. Today’s acquisition bolsters our growth targets, especially for digital revenue and software as a service. We are proud and excited to warmly welcome Brightly to the Siemens family.”
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-acquires-brightly-software-accelerate-growth-digital-building-operations
 

Microsoft’s LinkedIn Acquires EduBrite to Further its Skills First Vision
Fremont, California – 28th June 2022 - LinkedIn announced that it has acquired EduBrite, a SaaS learning platform focused on creating, hosting and deploying professional certificates. According to a statement released by LinkedIn, the acquisition will enable it to integrate EduBrite’s certification assessment engine into its learning platform, making it simpler for the company to test and verify the skills people claim to possess. The aim is to enable people to earn trusted credentials from organizations that they can then showcase on their LinkedIn profile. It will also further deliver on LinkedIn’s vision to create a skills-first approach to hiring and learning. Following the closing of the transaction, members of the EduBrite team, including CEO Ajay Upadhyaya and Co-founder Manish Gupta will join LinkedIn.
https://news.linkedin.com/2022/june/talent-solutions-news
 

Zendesk to be Acquired by Investor Group for $10.2 Billion
San Francisco – 24th June - Zendesk, Inc. announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by an investor group led by leading global investment firms Permira and Hellman & Friedman LLC (H&F) in an all-cash transaction that values Zendesk at approximately $10.2 billion. Under the terms of this agreement, Zendesk shareholders will receive $77.50 per share. The offer represents a premium of approximately 34% over Zendesk’s closing stock price on June 23, 2022, the last full trading day prior to this announcement. Mikkel Svane, founder, Chairman and CEO, Zendesk, said: “This is the start of a new chapter for Zendesk with partners that are aligned with the strength of our agile products and talented team, and are committed to providing the resources and expertise to continue our growth trajectory. With Hellman & Friedman and Permira’s support, we’ll continue to execute on our long-term strategy with our customers as our top priority, taking full advantage of the opportunity we see to help businesses navigate the ever changing expectations and demands of their customers.” Upon completion of the transaction, Zendesk will become a privately held company.
https://investor.zendesk.com/ir-home/financial-reports/financial-releases/financial-releases-details/2022/Zendesk-to-Be-Acquired-by-Investor-Group-Led-by-Hellman--Friedman-and-Permira-for-10.2-Billion/default.aspx
 

Starburst Acquires Varada To Deliver The New Standard Of Data Lake Analytics
Boston, USA & Tel Aviv, Israel – 23rd June 2022 — Starburst, the analytics anywhere company, announced its acquisition of Varada, a data lake analytics accelerator. While Starburst’s query engine already leads the industry in both performance and cost-efficiency, combining Varada’s proprietary and patented indexing technology sets a new benchmark in data lake analytics, empowering organizations to more quickly and efficiently derive greater insights from their data. In addition to its technology, Varada engineering and product leadership will be joining the Starburst team. Current economic dynamics are forcing IT leaders to find cost efficiencies wherever possible. The move to the cloud and the pay-as-you-go consumption models give IT managers more flexibility to scale expenses upward or reduce them downward. However, when running an application in the cloud, you’re not only running the application, but also the underpinning data, network resources, infrastructure resources, storage, and security that are part of the application’s total workload. With the acquisition and integration of Varada’s technology, customers using Starburst for their analytical workloads can reduce cloud compute costs by 40%+ and query response times by up to 7x.
https://www.starburst.io/press-releases/starburst-acquires-varada-to-deliver-the-new-standard-of-data-lake-analytics/

Kofax Acquires Tungsten for $86 Million
Irvine, CA – 20th June 2022 – Kofax®, a supplier of Intelligent Automation software for digital workflow transformation, has announced it has acquired Tungsten Corporation, a global B2B e-invoicing network that facilitates and streamlines complex invoice-to-pay processes. Tungsten provides a platform for onboarding of suppliers, PO exchange, invoice processing, e-invoicing, compliance and payment processing. Combined, Kofax and Tungsten will support organizations at every level of maturity in their journey towards true e-Invoicing, with a cloud platform of solutions for direct supplier onboarding, e-invoice exchange, interoperability, scanned and OCR paper invoices, machine readable PDF invoices, PDF data extraction and payment processing. Chief Executive Officer at Kofax, Reynolds Bish, commented, “Our SaaS solutions automate the processing of over 60 million invoices for more than 11,000 organizations around the globe. Adding Tungsten’s e-invoicing and other capabilities will provide more comprehensive and higher value invoice processing and accounts payable automation solutions to our customers. We’re excited to welcome Tungsten and its employees into the Kofax family, as we lean into addressing growing enterprise needs for e-invoicing compliance driven by government directives rapidly coming into effect throughout the world.”
https://www.kofax.com/about/press-releases/2022/kofax-acquires-tungsten
 

SEMPRE.ai Acquires NewSpace Networks
Washington – 15th June 2022 - SEMPRE.ai, the technology company created to secure America's critical infrastructure, has announced the acquisition of NewSpace Networks to further safeguard and expand the availability of terrestrial, maritime, airborne and space-based wireless communications. Integration of the two companies' technologies has been underway for more than a year, with the first commercial products having been tested domestically with the U.S. Department of Defense. By combining SEMPRE's heterogeneous edge compute, hardware hardening expertise and 5G core development with NewSpace Networks software experience, virtualization and networking knowledge the company has combined these technologies into a complete survivable, micro-edge datacenter solution. Specific terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
https://sempre.ai/in-the-news#acquisition
 

US-Based Clari Acquires Indian SaaS Platform Wingman
Sunnyvale, California – 15th June 2022 - In a first for the enterprise software industry, Clari took a significant step forward in addressing the top priority in business: revenue. Clari’s new strategic framework, Revenue Collaboration & Governance, is purpose-built to allow executives to handle the increasing pressure of delivering on revenue, and to confidently answer the most important question in business: Are we going to meet, beat, or miss on revenue? The acquisition of Wingman, a leader in conversation intelligence, gives Clari’s category-leading Revenue Platform the unprecedented ability to analyze customer and employee conversations, extract valuable AI-driven insights, and reliably predict all revenue outcomes. Wingman goes beyond the limits of similar conversation intelligence tools by helping revenue-critical teams act in the moment when it matters.
https://www.clari.com/blog/clari-unveils-revenue-collaboration-and-governance-acquisition-of-wingman/
 

Microsoft Acquires Cyber Security firm Miburo to Detect Foreign threats
New York – 15th June 2022 - Microsoft has acquired cyber threat analysis and research company Miburo to boost threat intelligence research into new foreign cyber threats. Miburo specialises in the detection of and response to foreign information operations. "With the acquisition of Miburo, we will continue our mission to take action, and to partner with others in the public and private sectors to find long-term solutions that will stop foreign adversaries from threatening public and private sector customers," Tom Burt, Corporate Vice President, Customer Security and Trust at Microsoft, said late on Tuesday. Miburo, led by founder Clint Watts, will become part of the Customer Security and Trust organization. Working in close collaboration with the Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center, our Threat Context Analysis team, our data scientists and others, the new analysts from Miburo will enable Microsoft to expand its threat detection and analysis capabilities to address new cyber-attacks and shed light on the ways in which foreign actors use information operations in conjunction with other cyber-attacks to achieve their objectives.
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2022/06/14/microsoft-to-acquire-miburo/
 

Skillsoft Enters Agreement to Sell Sumtotal to Cornerstone for $200 Million
Boston – 13th June 2022 – Skillsoft Corp, a platform for transformative learning experiences, has announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to sell its SumTotal business, a provider of learning and human capital management software (LMS and HCM) for highly regulated industries, to Cornerstone OnDemand, Inc. for approximately $200 million in a cash transaction. “Through the divestiture of SumTotal, we are aligning and simplifying Skillsoft’s portfolio to serve our customers and focus our business on the best opportunities for profitable growth,” said Jeffrey Tarr, Chief Executive Officer of Skillsoft. “This transaction enables us to sharpen our focus on accelerating growth in our core business of providing customers transformative learning experiences, which includes a portfolio of best-in-class content, a platform that is personalized, connected to customer needs and built on world-class technology, and a broad ecosystem of partners. This move marks another important step in our long-term strategic efforts to extend our leadership and create a more valuable company.” Following the close of the transaction, Richard Walker, Chief Corporate Strategy and Development Officer and President, SumTotal, will continue in his role as Skillsoft Chief Corporate Strategy and Development Officer.
https://www.skillsoft.com/press-releases/skillsoft-enters-agreement-to-sell-sumtotal-to-cornerstone-for-200-million
 

Siemens Acquires Predictive Maintenance Company, Senseye
Munich, Germany – 1st June 2022 - Siemens AG is further expanding its portfolio in the field of innovative predictive maintenance and asset intelligence with the acquisition of Senseye. The global industrial analytics software company is headquartered in Southampton, UK, Senseye is a leading provider of outcome-oriented predictive maintenance solutions for manufacturing and industrial companies. Senseye’s predictive maintenance solution enables a reduction in unplanned machine downtimes by up to 50%, increased maintenance staff productivity by up to 30%. Since June 1st, 2022 Senseye is a 100 percent subsidiary of Siemens holdings plc in the UK. The company is assigned organizationally to Siemens Digital Industries and part of the Customer Services Business Unit. “Senseye’s AI based solutions complement our digital services portfolio driving efficient and scalable predictive maintenance. This will allow us to offer highly flexible solutions to help our customers across many industries to determine the future condition of their machinery and hence, increase their overall equipment effectiveness”, says Margherita Adragna, CEO of Customer Services for Digital Industries, Siemens AG.
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-acquires-senseye-predictive-maintenance-and-asset-intelligence-industrial

One Equity Partners Agrees to Acquire Leading Corporate Banking Technology
New York – 7th June 2022 - One Equity Partners (OEP), a middle market private equity firm, announced it has agreed to acquire ACI’s corporate online banking solutions, an API-driven solution for the banking industry, from ACI Worldwide, a global company, specialising in mission-critical, real-time payments software. Upon completion of the transaction, the entity will operate independently under the new name, Dragonfly Financial Technologies. The industry-leading technology marketed as ACI Digital Business Banking Solutions enables blue chip banks worldwide to process over $1 billion in daily payments. The technology deployed on-premise or cloud-based and corporate banking customers to initiate payments, collect money owed, and manage financial positions and operations. As platforms, cloud, and software become the backbone of most modern businesses, the acquisition allows OEP to expand its expertise and exposure to financial technology and the software sector.
https://www.oneequity.com/news/newsarticle/5247
 

IBM Tackles Growing Attack Surface Risks with Plans to Acquire Randori
San Francisco and Armonk, NY – 6th June 2022 - IBM has announced it plans to acquire Randori, an attack surface management (ASM) and offensive cybersecurity provider, based in the Boston area. Randori helps clients continuously identify external facing assets, both on-premise and in the cloud, that are visible to attackers – and prioritize exposures which pose the greatest risk. "Our clients today are faced with managing a complex technology landscape of accelerating cyberattacks targeted at applications running across a variety of hybrid cloud environments – from public clouds, private clouds and on-premises," said Mary O'Brien, General Manager, IBM Security. "In this environment, it is essential for organizations to arm themselves with attacker's perspective in order to help find their most critical blind spots and focus their efforts on areas that will minimize business disruption and damages to revenue and reputation." Randori is IBM's fourth acquisition in 2022 as the company continues to bolster its hybrid cloud and AI skills and capabilities, including in cybersecurity. IBM has acquired more than 20 companies since Arvind Krishna became CEO in April 2020.
https://newsroom.ibm.com/2022-06-06-IBM-Tackles-Growing-Attack-Surface-Risks-with-Plans-to-Acquire-Randori
 

ReliaQuest to Acquire Digital Shadows for $160 Million
Tampa, Florida - 1st June 2022 - ReliaQuest, a force multiplier of security operations, announced that it entered into an agreement to acquire Digital Shadows, a company that delivers threat intelligence for security teams, for $160 million. The acquisition combines ReliaQuest’s ability to extend detection and response across cloud, network, and endpoint environments with Digital Shadows’ digital risk and threat intelligence technology. This gives security operations teams the ability to detect and respond to threats with real-time internal and external visibility. “Combining the internal visibility provided by ReliaQuest with the external threat intelligence and digital risk monitoring brought by Digital Shadows creates an end-to-end picture for enterprises around the world,” said Alastair Paterson, co-founder and CEO at Digital Shadows. “The complementary technical capability, shared cultural values, and geographic synergies offered by the combined companies make this a great opportunity for our customers and our partners.”
https://www.reliaquest.com/newsroom/press-release/reliaquest-to-acquire-digital-shadows/

MAY ACQUISITIONS:

Broadcom Inc. Acquires VMware Inc for $61 Billion
San Jose and Palo Alto, California – 26th May 2022 - Broadcom Inc, a global technology company that designs, develops and supplies semiconductor and infrastructure software solutions, and VMware, Inc, an innovator in enterprise software, have announced an agreement under which Broadcom will acquire all of the outstanding shares of VMware in a cash-and-stock transaction that values VMware at approximately $61 billion, based on the closing price of Broadcom common stock on May 25, 2022. In addition, Broadcom will assume $8 billion of VMware net debt. Following the closing of the transaction, the Broadcom Software Group will rebrand and operate as VMware, incorporating Broadcom's existing infrastructure and security software solutions as part of an expanded VMware portfolio. By bringing together the complementary Broadcom Software portfolio with the leading VMware platform, the combined company will provide enterprise customers an expanded platform of critical infrastructure solutions to accelerate innovation and address the most complex information technology infrastructure needs.
https://www.broadcom.com/company/news/financial-releases/60271
 

Joby Acquires Avionyx to Support its eVTOL Certification
Santa Cruz, CA, - 18th May 2022 — Joby Aviation, Inc, a California-based company developing all-electric aircraft for commercial passenger service, announced its acquisition of Avionyx, an established aerospace software engineering firm, to support its aircraft type certification program with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The acquisition allows Joby to scale resources rapidly to support the Company’s certification activities through the integration of an experienced team with a proven track record. Joby is one of a handful of startups developing electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft to serve congested cityscapes where aerial ridesharing could alleviate heavy road traffic. However, achieving FAA certification is a time-consuming and laborious task. “Acquiring Avionyx puts us in an excellent position to meet the regulatory requirements necessary for us to bring the Joby aircraft to market,” said Tom Ferrell, Development Assurance Lead at Joby. “Having worked alongside Avionyx for the last year, I’m continuously impressed by the wealth of experience they bring to our software verification activities.” Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
https://www.jobyaviation.com/news/joby-acquires-avionyx-established-aerospace-software-engineering-firm/
 

Fastly Announces Acquisition of Glitch
San Francisco - 19th May 2022 - Fastly, Inc, the world’s fastest edge cloud platform, announced it had acquired Glitch, a developer platform where more than 1.8 million developers innovate, create, and share full-stack web apps without having to run the infrastructure or manage tools themselves. Organizations are gaining significant business advantages by rapidly leveraging the applications their developers have built. As a result, developers need to go from a moment of inspiration to deployed code faster than ever before. Glitch inspires innovation through an easy-to-use development environment, remixable code, and a vibrant community of collaborative developers. Serverless technologies like Fastly’s WebAssembly-based edge platform remove barriers to innovation while natively providing security and performance. “Fastly was founded by developers, for developers and, together with Glitch, we take an important step forward in making it easier for customers to innovate at a layer in the software stack that they could not access before,” said Artur Bergman, Chief Architect at Fastly. “This acquisition brings together two of the world’s best ecosystems for application development into a single, seamless developer experience to deliver globally performant, secure and reliable applications at scale.”
https://www.fastly.com/press/press-releases/fastly-announces-acquisition-of-glitch
 

HealthStream Acquires CloudCME for $8 Million
Nashville, Tennessee – 18th May 2022—HealthStream, a provider of workforce and provider solutions for the healthcare industry, announced the completion of its acquisition of the remaining equity interest of CloudCME, a Nashville-based healthcare technology company with a nationwide customer base. HealthStream originally invested in CloudCME in March 2019 when it purchased approximately 20 percent of the equity interest in the company. With its acquisition of the remaining equity interest in CloudCME, HealthStream gains a best-in-class SaaS-based application for managing all aspects of continuing education within a healthcare organization. Across all patient care delivery, many hours of CME/CE (“continuing medical education / continuing education”) for physicians and clinical staff are mandated. The CloudCME application supports CME, CNE, CPE, Joint Accreditation, and many others. With this acquisition, HealthStream adds an essential application to its ecosystem for all of the critical workforce needs of healthcare organizations associated with CME/CE management.
https://ir.healthstream.com/news-releases/news-release-details/healthstream-acquires-cloudcme
 

Planview Announces Strategic Acquisition of Tasktop
Auston, Texas – 18th May 2022 – Planview, a Portfolio Management and Work Management organisation, announced that the company has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tasktop, a pioneer and leader in Value Stream Management (VSM). Based in Vancouver, Canada, Tasktop has 200+ employees and in FY21 saw record growth with 43% year-over-year user expansion. Mik Kersten, Founder and Chief Executive Officer at Tasktop, commented, “Connecting Planview’s leadership in enterprise Agile and strategic portfolio management with Tasktop’s leadership in VSM is a game-changing combination that expands the capabilities and value proposition we can offer to customers. Tasktop and Planview’s complementary offerings will better help our customers realize digital transformation – accelerating the pace at which they can transform and deliver competitive advantages through technology.”
https://www.tasktop.com/press-releases/planview-announces-strategic-acquisition-of-tasktop/
 

Experian Agrees to Acquire Majority Stake in MOVA
Brazil - 16 May 2022 – Experian, the global information services company, is pleased to announce that it has agreed to acquire MOVA Sociedade de Empréstimo entre Pessoas S.A. (MOVA), a fintech company in Brazil that helps equip any company, including non-banks, with the expertise and technology to perform data-driven credit assessments of their SME end-clients. SMEs are underserved by affordable credit in Brazil and MOVA is tackling this issue. MOVA is highly complementary to Experian’s existing Business-to-Business solutions, facilitating access to credit by SMEs. Experian has agreed to acquire 51% of MOVA from Érico Sodre Quirino, a private investor, and Roberto Tesch, founder and CEO, for cash consideration of R$40m (c.US$7.9m²) on completion in the form of a capital injection into MOVA, and an earnout based on MOVA’s calendar year 2024 net revenues payable to the Sellers. Experian has a call option to acquire the remaining 49% stake between calendar year 2026 and calendar year 2028, whilst the Sellers have a put option exercisable during calendar year 2029. The transaction is expected to be funded from Experian’s existing cash resources.
https://www.experianplc.com/media/latest-news/2022/experian-agrees-to-acquire-majority-stake-in-mova/
 

Ultimaker Acquires 3D Printer & Software Developer MakerBot
New York - 12th May 2022 - MakerBot and Ultimaker, two desktop 3D printing companies, announced that they have agreed a merger that will accelerate the adoption of additive manufacturing by providing a comprehensive desktop 3D printing ecosystem of hardware, software, and materials. The new entity will be backed by existing investors, NPM Capital and Stratasys, and will benefit from a planned cash investment of $62.4 million to fuel innovation and expansion into new markets. The new company will be led by Nadav Goshen, current MakerBot CEO, and Jürgen von Hollen, current Ultimaker CEO, who will act as Co-CEOs, with Nadav managing operations and R&D and Jürgen managing the commercial functions. “This merger marks an important milestone for Ultimaker and MakerBot,” says Jürgen von Hollen, CEO of Ultimaker. “Innovation and growth are both critical to bringing desktop 3D printing from a specialty technology into mainstream business adoption. The new company will leverage and expand its combined global footprint with sales and operations in the Americas, EMEA and APAC.”
https://www.makerbot.com/stories/news/makerbot-and-ultimaker-agree-to-merge-to-accelerate-global-adoption-of-additive-manufacturing/
 

Zoom Drives Contact Center Expansion with Acquisition of Solvvy
San Jose, California and Burlingame, California – 12th May 2022 - Zoom Video Communications, Inc. announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Solvvy, a conversational AI and automation platform for customer support. Together, Zoom and Solvvy will offer elevated customer service experiences to a global enterprise base and work quickly to capitalize on new opportunities in contact center and customer support. The recently launched Zoom Contact Center is the first omnichannel contact center platform optimized for video with a robust suite of channels, (video, voice, SMS, webchat), in a single, user-friendly experience. Velchamy Sankarlingam, President of Product and Engineering at Zoom, explained, “The nature of customer experience is transforming fundamentally, as enterprises increasingly need to deliver exceptional, personalized, and effortless customer experiences. Solvvy understands this shift and is the ideal platform to enhance our Zoom Contact Center offering. Solvvy’s differentiated AI and machine learning technology, deeply talented team, and an easy-to-deploy solution will help accelerate our roadmap to creating a concierge-level experience for customers worldwide. Together, we are excited to help businesses of all sizes improve their customer retention, increase operating efficiency, and set new standards for customer service and satisfaction.”
https://investors.zoom.us/news-releases/news-release-details/zoom-drives-contact-center-expansion-acquisition-solvvy
 

DigitalBridge Acquires Switch for $11 Billion
Las Vegas – 11th May 2022 - Switch, Inc. announced it had entered into a definitive agreement with DigitalBridge Group, Inc, under which DigitalBridge Partners II, the value-added digital infrastructure equity strategy of the investment management platform of DigitalBridge, and an affiliate of global infrastructure investor IFM Investors ("IFM") will acquire all outstanding common shares of Switch for $34.25 per share in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $11 billion, including the assumption of debt. Switch Founder and CEO, Rob Roy, said, "Today's announcement is an important step towards our long-term vision for the growth and evolution of our company. Through this partnership we will be ideally positioned to continue to meet strong customer demand for Switch's environmentally sustainable Tier 5 data center infrastructure. Following our expansion into a Fifth Prime campus last year, and with our plan to construct more than 11 million additional square feet of capacity through 2030, Switch's strategic position has never been stronger. The combination of our advanced data center infrastructure, significant expansion capacity in our land bank, and a new partnership with experienced digital infrastructure investors lays a strong foundation for Switch's continued industry leading growth."
https://investors.switch.com/news/press-release/2022/Switch-to-be-Taken-Private-by-DigitalBridge-Investment-Management-and-IFM-in-11-Billion-Transaction/default.aspx#:~:text=Press%20Release-,Switch%20to%20be%20Taken%20Private%20by%20DigitalBridge%20Investment,IFM%20in%20%2411%20Billion%20Transaction&text=LAS%20VEGAS%2C%20May%2011%2C%202022,agreement%20with%20DigitalBridge%20Group%2C%20Inc.
 

Salesforce Signed Definitive Agreement to Acquire Troops.ai
San Francisco - 9th May 2022 - Salesforce has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Troops.ai, provider of a revenue communications solution used to improve sales velocity, forecasting, visibility and collaboration across teams. Upon the closing of the acquisition, Troops will become part of Slack, a Salesforce company. The Troops team has spent more than seven years designing tools that deliver real-time insights from systems of record like Salesforce to systems of engagement like Slack, bringing together the information and actions that customer-facing teams need to close new deals and support existing customers. Companies of every size and every industry are using Slack and Salesforce to power their Digital HQ in today’s digital-first world. By connecting their employees, customers, partners, tools, and workflows on a single platform strengthened by powerful integrations, teams benefit from a shared view of their customers and projects, and can act on real-time insights — right where they are already working.
https://www.salesforce.com/news/stories/corporate-news-update-2022/
 

ColdQuanta Acquires Super.tech and Announces the Commercial Availability of Hilbert, the World’s First Cold Atom Quantum Computer
Boulder, Colorado & Chicago 10th May 2022 - ColdQuanta, the global quantum ecosystem leader, announced its acquisition of Chicago-based Super.tech, a quantum software application and platform development company, and the beta launch of Hilbert, the world’s first gate-based cold atom quantum computer. Super.tech’s full team of quantum information scientists and software developers, including CEO Pranav Gokhale and Chief Scientist Fred Chong, will join ColdQuanta and lead the company’s new Chicago office. The acquisition of Super.tech transforms ColdQuanta into a multi-platform, quantum hardware and software company. “The quantum industry is experiencing tremendous growth as hardware and software solutions begin to take root in the real world,” said ColdQuanta CEO Scott Faris. “Since its launch, Super.tech has been recognized as an innovator in quantum software and benchmarking. The combination of Super.tech’s software applications and algorithms and ColdQuanta’s ground-breaking quantum computer, Hilbert, will enable customers to accelerate time to value.”
https://coldquanta.com/coldquanta-acquires-super-tech-and-announces-the-commercial-availability-of-hilbert-the-worlds-first-cold-atom-quantum-computer/

Datadog Signs Definitive Agreement to Acquire Hdiv Security
New York – 5th May 2022 - Datadog, Inc, the monitoring and security platform for cloud applications, announced it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Hdiv Security, a leading security-testing software provider. The addition of Hdiv Security's capabilities to Datadog's Cloud Security Platform will enable a more comprehensive approach to application security. "Combining security and observability provides Datadog customers unique insights into sensitive services that are vulnerable or under attack," said Pierre Betouin, VP of Product, Cloud Security Platform at Datadog. "Adding Hdiv Security's capabilities to Datadog's Cloud Security Platform will deepen security visibility across the entire software life cycle to help our customers develop more secure and resilient applications."
https://investors.datadoghq.com/news-releases/news-release-details/datadog-signs-definitive-agreement-acquire-hdiv-security

04 August 2022