Boss Insights - Tech M&A and News Round Up for 2021

BIGGEST Tech Deal of the Year as Oracle Acquires EMR Company Cerner for $28.3 Billion
Austin, Texas and Kansas City, Missouri - 20th December 2021 - Oracle Corporation and Cerner Corporation have jointly announced an agreement for Oracle to acquire Cerner through an all-cash tender offer for $95.00 per share, or approximately $28.3 billion in equity value. Cerner is a provider of digital information systems used within hospitals and health systems to enable medical professionals to deliver better healthcare to individual patients and communities. Commenting, Larry Ellison, Chairman and Chief Technology Officer, Oracle, said: “Working together, Cerner and Oracle have the capacity to transform healthcare delivery by providing medical professionals with better information - enabling them to make better treatment decisions resulting in better patient outcomes. With this acquisition, Oracle’s corporate mission expands to assume the responsibility to provide our overworked medical professionals with a new generation of easier-to-use digital tools that enable access to information via a hands-free voice interface to secure cloud applications. This new generation of medical information systems promises to lower the administrative workload burdening our medical professionals, improve patient privacy and outcomes, and lower overall healthcare costs.”
https://www.cerner.com/newsroom/oracle-buys-cerner

Bottomline to be acquired by Thoma Bravo for $2.6 Billion
Portsmouth, N.H. – 17th December 2021 – Bottomline Technologies, provider of financial technology that makes complex business payments simple, smart and secure, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to be acquired by software investment firm, Thoma Bravo, in an all-cash transaction that values Bottomline at approximately $2.6 billion. Upon completion of the transaction, Bottomline will become a privately held company. Rob Eberle, CEO of Bottomline, commented: “We have been executing against our strategy of establishing competitive advantage with a product set designed to transform business payments for companies and financial institutions around the world. Our partnership with Thoma Bravo will provide additional resources and greater flexibility to build on our leadership position, invest in continued innovation and accelerate go-to-market efforts to deliver increased value to customers.

https://www.bottomline.com/uk/newsroom/press-releases/bottomline-be-acquired-thoma-bravo-26-billion

Cyber Security Company, Sysdig, raises $350M; Doubles Valuation to $2.5B in Eight Months
San Francisco - 15th December 2021 – Sysdig, Inc., the unified container and cloud security company, today announced it has raised a $350 million Series G funding round at a valuation of $2.5 billion – bringing total funding to $744 million and more than doubling the company’s valuation in eight months. Sysdig empowers organizations to confidently secure the cloud by providing real-time threat detection to eliminate security blind spots and one-click remediation to close the loop. With the Sysdig platform, teams detect and respond to runtime threats, and continuously manage configurations, permissions, vulnerabilities and compliance for containers, Kubernetes, and cloud services. Sysdig partners with major cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, Microsoft Azure, IBM Cloud, Red Hat, and SUSE Rancher.
https://sysdig.com/press-releases/350m-series-g-financing-2-5b-valuation/

Kofax Announces Possibility of Acquiring Tungsten Corporation for $67.5 Million
London, UK - 15th December 2021 - Supplier of intelligent-automation software for digital workflow transformation, Kofax, has confirmed that it has been in discussions with Tungsten Corporation regarding its possible acquisition of Tungsten for £50.6 million ($67.5 million). Tungsten confirmed the offer on 14th December. By law, Kofax must, by no later than January 11, 2022, either announce a firm intention to make an offer for Tungsten, or announce that it does not intend to make an offer. Tungsten is a London-based company that provides the world’s largest business-transaction network, connecting buyers and sellers for easier, faster and safer global trade. https://www.kofax.com/about/press-releases/2021/statement-regarding-possible-offer-for-tungsten-corporation-plc

NIKE, Inc. Acquires RTFKT, Accelerating its Metaverse Foray
Beaverton, Oregon - 13th December 2021 - NIKE, Inc. has announced the acquisition of RTFKT (pronounced ‘artefact’), a brand that leverages cutting-edge innovation to deliver next-generation collectibles that merge culture and gaming. Explaining the acquisition, John Donahoe, President and CEO of NIKE, Inc. said: “This acquisition is another step that accelerates Nike’s digital transformation and allows us to serve athletes and creators at the intersection of sport, creativity, gaming and culture. We’re acquiring a very talented team of creators with an authentic and connected brand. Our plan is to invest in the RTFKT brand, serve and grow their innovative and creative community and extend Nike’s digital footprint and capabilities.” 
https://news.nike.com/news/nike-acquires-rtfkt

SnapLogic Raises $165 Million at a $1 Billion Valuation to Lead the Surging Enterprise Automation Market
San Mateo, California - 13th December 2021 - Enterprise Automation company, SnapLogic, has announced that it has raised $165 million at a billion-dollar valuation to accelerate its leadership in AI-powered data and application integration, the new glue of the social and virtual era. This latest round was led by Sixth Street Growth, which will join the SnapLogic board. The funds, which augment SnapLogic’s venture-backed war chest, will be used to speed international expansion, product innovation, and sales and marketing. This latest investment in SnapLogic follows a record year of growth and innovation across all elements of the business. CEO of SnapLogic and an acclaimed pioneer of the data management industry, Gaurav Dhillon, commented: “The enterprise automation market is booming, and our latest funding is further validation of our growing momentum and product leadership in that space….our focus on the enterprise will unlock the power of applications, data, and APIs. In the post-pandemic era, our customers will use AI and automation to revolutionize their hybrid workforces. With SnapLogic, hybrid- and multi-cloud enterprises can ensure their massive investments in public and private clouds, SaaS, cloud data warehousing, and APIs will pay off.”
https://www.snaplogic.com/press-releases/snaplogic-raises-165-million

Airtable Raises $735 Million, Hits $11B valuation
San Francisco – 13th December 2021 – Airtable, the connected apps platform that enables teams to modernize their business processes, has announced a new round of investment to strengthen its focus on product development, customer growth, and support for enterprise teams across multiple industries. Over 80% of Fortune 100 companies rely on Airtable’s technology and its customer base includes Amazon, Baker Hughes, IBM, LVMH, Netflix, Nike, Red Bull, Restoration Hardware, and Under Armour. The company’s low-code tools enable knowledge workers in virtually any business function to build customized applications that previously required deep technical skill or significant IT investment. “As we’ve sharpened our focus on the needs of enterprise businesses, customers are scaling their use of our products to department- and company-wide processes, establishing Airtable as a source of truth for their most valuable operations,” said Howie Liu, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Airtable. “This additional capital will allow us to invest even more aggressively in product development and to scale a team and infrastructure capable of supporting a much larger, worldwide customer base.”
https://blog.airtable.com/announcing-airtables-series-f-funding/

Thoma Bravo Exploring $3 Billion Sale of Software Firm Kofax
Irvine, California - 29th November 2021 - Thoma Bravo, the private equity firm led by Orlando Bravo, is exploring a sale of automation software provider Kofax, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Thoma Bravo is working with an adviser to solicit potential interest in the Irvine, California-based company, which could fetch about $3 billion including debt, the people said. No final decisions have been made and Thoma Bravo could opt to keep Kofax. A Thoma Bravo representative declined to comment and a Kofax spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Led by Chief Executive Officer, Reynolds Bish, Kofax in August, said it acquired Printix.net ApS, a cloud-based print management software provider. That transaction followed the June purchase of Psigen Software Inc., which provides document-capture, workflow-automation and content-management software, and the 2019 acquisition of Top Image Systems Ltd. Thoma Bravo acquired Kofax in 2017 through its purchase of Lexmark International Inc.’s enterprise-software business. It combined Kofax and ReadSoft as part of that deal.]

Notable Acquisitions of 2021:

Ericsson to Acquire Cloud Communications Company Vonage for $6.2 Billion
Stockholm, Sweden - 22nd November 2021 - Ericsson has entered into an agreement to acquire Vonage Holdings Corp. for a total acquisition price of approximately USD 6.2 billion. The merger agreement was approved unanimously by the Board of Vonage. The transaction builds upon Ericsson’s intent to expand globally in wireless enterprise, offering existing customers an increased share of a market valued at USD 700 billion by 2030. Börje Ekholm, President and CEO of Ericsson, commented: “The core of our strategy is to build leading mobile networks through technology leadership. This provides the foundation to build an enterprise business. The acquisition of Vonage is the next step in delivering on that strategic priority. Vonage gives us a platform to help our customers monetize the investments in the network, benefitting developers and businesses. Imagine putting the power and capabilities of 5G, the biggest global innovation platform, at the fingertips of developers. Then back it with Vonage’s advanced capabilities, in a world of 8 billion connected devices. Today we are making that possible.”
https://www.ericsson.com/en/press-releases/2021/11/ericsson-to-acquire-vonage-for-usd-6.2-billion-to-spearhead-the-creation-of-a-global-network-and-communication-platform-for-open-innovation

Video-Conferencing Software Start-Up, Mmhmm Acquired Macro
San Francisco, California - 19th November 2021 - The videoconferencing software start-up, founded by Evernote creator, Phil Libin, has announced it has acquired Macro, a company that creates filters, reactions and tools aimed at making virtual meetings more engaging. Discussions between Macro and Mmhmm began in late September, with the deal closing just weeks later. Specific terms of the deal were not disclosed but it is known that Mmhmm recently raised $100 million in funding. In a blog post announcing the deal, Mmhmm wrote: “What we love about Macro CEO Ankith Harathi and Macro CTO John Keck is how they know the most important part of any video communication is you — how they’re working to smash barriers to self-expression on video platforms that try to box us in. Most of all, we love that they want us to have fun on video.” https://www.mmhmm.app/blog/macro-joins-mmhmm

Xilinx Acquired by AMD for $35 Billion
Silicon Valley, California - 27th October 2021 - AMD and Xilinx announced they had entered into a definitive agreement for AMD to acquire Xilinx in an all-stock transaction valued at $35 billion. The transaction is expected to be immediately accretive to AMD margins, EPS and free cash flow generation and deliver industry-leading growth. The acquisition brings together two complementary product portfolios. AMD will offer the industry’s strongest portfolio of high-performance processor technologies and deep software expertise to enable computing platforms for cloud, edge and end devices. Together, the combined company will capitalize on opportunities spanning some of the industry’s most important growth segments from the data center to gaming, PCs, communications, automotive, industrial, aerospace and defense.
https://www.amd.com/en/press-releases/2020-10-27-amd-to-acquire-xilinx-creating-the-industry-s-high-performance-computing

2021 Buying Spree for Cisco
Cisco Acquired Epsagon for $500 million

Israel & New York - 8th October 2021 - The acquisition came after Cisco had made two other previous high-profile app-monitoring acquisitions: AppDynamics: for $3.7 billion in 2018 and ThousandEyes: for $1 billion in 2020. Announcing the acquisition in a blog post, Cisco’s Senior Vice President & Chief Strategy Officer, Liz Centoni, said: “Cisco’s approach to full-stack observability gives our customers the ability to move beyond just monitoring to a paradigm that delivers shared context across teams and enables our customers to deliver exceptional digital experiences, optimize for cost, security and performance and maximize digital business revenue.”
https://blogs.cisco.com/news/12082021
Cisco Completed Acquisition of SocioLabs
8th July 2021 -
Cisco announced the completion of the acquisition of privately-held, U.S.-based Socio Labs, Inc. Socio is a modern event technology platform that manages the full lifecycle of multi-session, multi-track virtual, in-person and hybrid conferences – from registration to post-event analytics. By adding Socio Labs to its Webex portfolio, Cisco will provide event organizers a single platform with everything they need to successfully host nearly any type of event imaginable.
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2175504
Cisco Completes Acquisition of Kenna Security
30th June 2021 – San Jose, California – Cisco announced the completion of the acquisition of Kenna Security, Inc. With the addition of Kenna Security’s risk-based vulnerability management platform, Cisco customers will solve critical security posture challenges by working cross-functionally to rapidly automate prediction, identification, prioritization and remediation of cybersecurity threats.
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2175113
Cisco Completes Acquisition of Acacia Communications, Inc. for $4.5 Billion
1st March 2021 -
San Jose, California - Following approval by a majority of Acacia’s shareholders, Cisco announced the completion of the acquisition of Acacia Communications, Inc. Acacia designs and manufactures high-speed, optical interconnect technologies that allow webscale companies, service providers and data center operators to meet the fast-growing consumer demand for data. This acquisition reinforces Cisco’s commitment to optics as a critical building block that will enhance Cisco’s ‘Internet for the Future’ strategy with world class coherent optical solutions for customers, further enabling them to address the unprecedented scale of modern IT.
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2144825
Cisco Completes Acquisition of IMImobile PLC
19th February 2021
– Cisco completed the acquisition of IMImobile Plc, global provider of cloud communications software and services that manage business-critical interactions at scale. IMImobile orchestrates, automates, monitors and delivers the customer interactions that drive the best experiences. By combining IMImobile’s solution with Webex Contact Center, Cisco will be able to provide a robust Customer Experience as a Service (CXaaS) offer. This new offering will bring together cloud contact center, artificial intelligence, experience management, collaboration and Communications Platform as-a-Service to create a single solution that will give organizations the ability to provide the exceptional experiences that customers expect.
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?type=webcontent&articleId=2143832

Adobe Completed the Acquisition of Frame.io for $1.275 Billion
San Jose, California – 7th October 2021 - Adobe announced the completion of its acquisition of cloud-based video collaboration platform, Frame.io. The combination of Adobe’s video editing offerings with Frame.io’s cloud-based review and approval functionality will radically accelerate the creative process and deliver an end-to-end video platform. With over a million users, Frame.io streamlines the video production process by enabling editors and key project stakeholders to seamlessly collaborate using cloud-first workflows. The addition of Frame.io creates an opportunity for Adobe, in conjunction with the partner ecosystem, to expand beyond video editors to a broader set of customers, teams and enterprises.
https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2021/Adobe-Completes-Acquisition-of-Frame.io/default.aspx

Zendesk Acquired Momentive and Its Iconic SurveyMonkey Platform for $4 Billion
San Francisco & San Mateo, California – 28th October 2021 - Zendesk and Momentive entered into a definitive agreement under which Zendesk will acquire Momentive, including its iconic SurveyMonkey platform for around $4 billion. Both companies have sizable customer bases and complementary capabilities, which are expected to provide significant opportunity for joint product adoption and increasing Momentive’s enterprise traction. Zendesk will reinvest savings from scale efficiencies into compelling growth opportunities. Upon the close of the transaction, Momentive CEO Zander Lurie will continue to lead Momentive’s strong management team. https://www.zendesk.com/company/press/announcement/

Zendesk Also Acquired AI Automation Start-Up Cleverly
Portugal – 26th August 2021 - Zendesk announced that it has acquired Cleverly.ai, a Portugal-based platform that finds answers to customer’s questions by creating a knowledge layer on top of apps. Zendesk plans to integrate Cleverly’s technology across its existing products to enable teams to automate more processes while keeping up with customer demand. Cleverly uses machine learning (ML) to classify, prioritise and route customer support tickets based on intents. The platform can classify content in over a dozen languages, integrating with help desk, FAQ, and customer relationship management software to identify knowledge gaps and automate replies for common customer queries.
https://www.zendesk.com/blog/zendesk-welcomes-cleverly/

Stripe Acquired OpenChannel and Recko
San Francisco:
6th December 2021 - Stripe, a global technology company that builds economic infrastructure for the internet, today announced it has acquired OpenChannel, a leading provider of app marketplace software. OpenChannel’s software helps businesses build app ecosystems for third-party developers and users. As part of the acquisition, OpenChannel’s team will join Stripe’s remote hubs. The team will work on ecosystem integrations for Stripe.
https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/openchannel
20th October 2021 – Stripe announced it entered into an agreement to acquire Recko, a provider of payments reconciliation software for internet businesses. The acquisition of Recko is the latest milestone in Stripe’s expansion beyond payments acceptance, bringing millions of users another tool to manage and grow their revenue alongside Stripe Revenue Recognition, Stripe Billing, Stripe Invoicing, and more.
https://stripe.com/newsroom/news/recko

Instacart Acquired Caper AI, a Leader in Smart Cart and Smart Checkout Technology
San Francisco – 19th October 2021 – Online North American grocery platform, Instacart, announced its acquisition of Caper AI, an AI-powered shopping cart and checkout technology platform. The acquisition expands Instacart’s comprehensive retailer enablement platform, which currently spans the Instacart marketplace, robust enterprise services that power the ecommerce solutions for many top grocers, fulfillment technology to support delivery and pickup capabilities, last-mile delivery, and much more. With this acquisition, Instacart aims to help retailers unify the in-store and online shopping experience for customers, supporting their businesses no matter how customers choose to shop. Commenting on the acquisition, Fidji Simo, Instacart’s CEO, said: “We’ll continue to deepen our investment in our suite of enterprise technology services, unlocking new solutions that help power the comprehensive ecommerce platforms of retailers across North America..” https://www.instacart.com/company/pressreleases/instacart-acquires-caper-ai-a-leader-in-smart-cart-and-smart-checkout-technology-creating-a-unified-online-and-in-store-commerce-solution-for-retailers/

Microsoft Acquired Ally.io to improve employee experience by aligning people’s work with team goals and company mission
7th October 2021 – Ally.io helps companies monitor their Objectives and Key Results (OKR), bringing together data from across an organization and keeping employees on the same page as they work toward milestones. Customers include brands such as Dropbox, Zillow Group and Overstock.com. Ally.io will add depth to Microsoft’s new employee experience platform, Vivo, while Microsoft will also integrate Ally.io into its other products, including Office, Power BI, and Teams. Vivo aims to improve well-being by analysing how employees spend their time, provide a central hub for internal company resources, integrate learning into the flow of work, and provide better access to internal corporate knowledge and expertise. In a blog post announcing the deal, Kirk Koenigsbauer, Microsoft COO and CVP, Experiences and Devices Group, wrote: “Ally.io and Microsoft Viva will enrich how people and teams come together to build alignment and achieve better business outcomes.”
https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2021/10/07/microsoft-acquires-ally-io-to-improve-employee-experience-by-aligning-peoples-work-with-team-goals-and-company-mission/

Siemens acquires Wattsense to boost IoT systems for small and medium buildings
Dardily, France – 6th October 2021 - Siemens Smart Infrastructure has completed the acquisition of French start-up, Wattsense, a hardware and software company which offers an innovative, plug-and-play, IoT management system for small and mid-size buildings, expanding Siemens’ building products portfolio. Wattsense was started in 2017 and is headquartered in Dardilly, near Lyon, France.  CEO of Building Products at Siemens Smart Infrastructure, Henning Sandfort, commented: “Together with Wattsense we will accelerate the adoption of IoT systems in a wider range of buildings, bringing the sustainability, comfort and cost benefits to more people and businesses. The SaaS business model and innovative technology stack of Wattsense perfectly complement our growing digital portfolio for our customers. We are excited to welcome the talented Wattsense team on board.”
https://press.siemens.com/global/en/pressrelease/siemens-acquires-wattsense-boost-iot-systems-small-and-medium-buildings

Intuit Acquired Mailchimp for $12 Billion
Mountain View, California – 28th October 2021 - Intuit, the global technology platform that makes TurboTax, QuickBooks, Mint and Credit Karma, announced that it had completed its acquisition of Mailchimp, a global customer engagement and marketing platform. Together, Intuit and Mailchimp will work to deliver on the vision of an innovative, end-to-end customer growth platform for small and mid-market businesses, allowing them to get their business online, market their business, manage customer relationships, benefit from insights and analytics, get paid, access capital, pay employees, optimize cash flow, be organized and stay compliant, all assisted by experts at their fingertips. Sasan Goodarzi, CEO of Intuit, commented: “At Intuit, we’re focused on powering prosperity around the world, and we’re thrilled that the addition of Mailchimp will allow us to help small and mid-market businesses with one of their, top challenges - reaching and retaining customers. We’ll expand our AI-driven expert platform by integrating Mailchimp and QuickBooks in smart ways that will help businesses from start-up to scale-up grow and run with confidence.”
https://www.intuit.com/company/press-room/press-releases/2021/intuit-completes-acquisition-of-mailchimp/

Apollo Funds Completed the Acquisition of Yahoo for $5 Billion
New York - 1st September 2021 - Apollo Global Management, Inc. announced that funds managed by its affiliates (the “Apollo Funds”) completed the acquisition of Yahoo - formerly Verizon Media - one of the world’s premier global technology and media companies. With the close of the transaction, Yahoo will now operate as a standalone company under Apollo Funds. Verizon has retained a 10% stake in Yahoo. Reed Rayman, Partner at Apollo, said: “We look forward to partnering with Yahoo's talented employee base to build on the company's strong momentum and position the new Yahoo for long-term success as a standalone consumer internet and digital media leader. We couldn’t be more excited about this next chapter for Yahoo as we look to invest in growth across the business, including accelerating its customer-first offerings and commerce capabilities, expanding its reach and enhancing the daily user experience.”
https://www.apollo.com/media/press-releases/2021/09-01-2021-161530593

Microsoft Acquired Peer5 to Enhance Teams
10th August 2021 - Microsoft acquired electronic content-delivery network (eCDN) vendor, Peer5 to strengthen live video streaming in Teams. Peer5 runs in browsers to optimize bandwidth usage for line-of-business applications and has mesh networks that automatically scale as the number of viewers increases. Additionally, Peer5's technology doesn't require additional installation on user endpoints or any changes to physical network infrastructure. Nicole Herskowitz wrote in the Teams blog post: “As Microsoft Teams has become the primary communications and collaboration platform for many of our customers, they’ve asked us for more integrated…solutions for large-scale meetings and virtual events. Peer5…expand[s] our ability for delivering secure, high-quality, large-scale live video streaming with optimized network performance in Teams.”
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/microsoft-teams-blog/microsoft-acquires-peer5-to-enhance-live-video-streaming-in/ba-p/2628950

Kofax Acquired Printix and Psigen
Irvine, CA
10th August 2021 – Kofax®, supplier of Intelligent Automation software for digital workflow transformation, announced it had acquired cloud-based SaaS print management software provider, Printix.net ApS.  Discussing the deal, Reynolds C. Bish, Kofax’s Chief Executive Officer, said: “We’re very pleased to welcome Printix’s customers, partners and employees into the Kofax family and assure them we’ll continue to market, develop, support and increase investments in the Printix business. This acquisition allows Kofax to continue enhancing our intelligent automation platform, increase our customer and partner ecosystem and establish a strong position in the high-growth, cloud-based SaaS print management software market.”
https://www.kofax.com/about/press-releases/2021/kofax-acquires-printix
2nd June 2021 - Kofax®, announced it had acquired PSIGEN Software, Inc., a provider of document capture, content management and workflow automation software and solutions. Commenting on the transaction, Kofax’s Chief Executive Office, Reynolds C. Bish, said: “This acquisition adds to our existing document capture software and solutions, further extends our leadership position in the capture market, adds content management software and solutions to our product portfolio, increases our customer and partner ecosystem and enhances our intelligent automation platform.”
https://www.kofax.com/about/press-releases/2021/kofax-acquires-psigen

Salesforce Completed Acquisitions of Slack and Servicetrace
2nd September 2021 -
Salesforce completed its acquisition of Servicetrace, which is now a part of MuleSoft, a Salesforce company. MuleSoft RPA is now available to customers and the company is committed to growing the new RPA capabilities as part of its unified platform and composable business vision. RPA bots become another building block that can be securely composed and orchestrated across teams. MuleSoft further allows companies to drive collaborative innovation that spans integration, API management and automation with hyperscale resilience, universal governance, end-to-end security.
https://blogs.mulesoft.com/news/mulesoft-to-acquire-servicetrace/
July 21, 2021 - Global CRM company, Salesforce, announced it has completed its w “Together we’ll define the future of enterprise software, creating the digital HQ that enables every organization to deliver customer and employee success from anywhere.” Bret Taylor, President and Chief Operating Officer of Salesforce, added: “We’ve learned over the past year that the workplace isn’t snapping back to the way it was,” said. “Together, Slack and Salesforce Customer 360 will give every company in the world a single source of truth for their business and a single platform for connecting employees, customers, and partners with each other and the apps they use every day.” Stewart Butterfield, Slack CEO and Co-Founder, observed: “We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to rethink and reshape how and where we work. Salesforce and Slack are uniquely positioned to lead this historic shift to a digital-first world. I could not be more excited for what’s to come." 
https://www.salesforce.com/news/press-releases/2021/07/21/salesforce-slack-deal-close/

Square Acquired Afterpay For $29 Billion
1st August 2021 - Square, the digital payments platform co-founded by Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, acquired Afterpay, the Australian "Buy now, pay later" firm, for $29 billion. Founded in 2014 by Australians Nick Molnar and Anthony Eisen, Afterpay has more than 16 million customers and is used by 100 million businesses around the world. The company was already a leader in a growing sector of the online payments market that allows consumers to pay for their purchases in instalments. Co-founder and CEO of Square, Jack Dorsey, said: “Square and Afterpay have a shared purpose. We built our business to make the financial system more fair, accessible, and inclusive, and Afterpay has built a trusted brand aligned with those principles. Together, we can better connect our Cash App and Seller ecosystems to deliver even more compelling products and services for merchants and consumers, putting the power back in their hands.”
https://squareup.com/gb/en/press/square-announces-plans-to-acquire-afterpay

Qualtrics Announced Definitive Agreement to Acquire Clarabridge for $1.125 Billion
Provo, Utah and Reston, Virginia – 29th July 2021 - Experience Management (XM) provider and creator of the XM category, Qualtrics, announced that it entered into a definitive agreement to acquire omnichannel conversational analytics company, Clarabridge, in a stock transaction valued at $1.125 billion. Clarabridge’s sophisticated AI-powered platform allows companies to capture and analyze customer feedback from indirect sources such as social media, emails, support calls, chats and product reviews. Qualtrics platform enables organizations to ask their customers and employees the right questions to understand how they’re feeling about their company, products and brand experiences–– and then use that data to take action across their business. Qualtrics CEO, Zig Serafin, said: “Together, we’ll give companies even greater power to build deep, trusted relationships with their customers and employees and deliver incredible experiences that everyone will love.”
https://www.qualtrics.com/news/qualtrics-announces-definitive-agreement-to-acquire-clarabridge/

HP Acquired Teradici
Palo Alto, California – 27th July 2021 – HP Inc. announced a definitive agreement to acquire Teradici Corporation, a global innovator in remote computing software that enables users to securely access high-performance computing from any PC, Chromebook, or tablet. The acquisition will enhance HP’s capabilities in the Personal Systems category by delivering new models and services tailored for hybrid work. Through its award-winning ZCentral Remote Boost software, which is focused on providing remote access to physical workstations, HP is enabling remote and hybrid work for professionals such as engineers, animators, editors, and other users of high-performance computing. Teradici brings a complementary set of capabilities that are focused on cloud PCs and virtual workstations. Combining the two remote access solutions will enable HP to offer a broader remote compute platform that spans on-premise and cloud solutions from any type of device, including macOS, public clouds, and iPad and Android tablets. 
https://press.hp.com/us/en/press-releases/2021/hp-inc-to-acquire-teradici.html

Shutterstock Acquired three Artificial Intelligence Platforms, Formed Shutterstock.AI and Announced the Acquisition of PicMonkey
New York
27th July 2021 - Shutterstock, Inc, a global, creative platform offering full-service solutions, high-quality content and tools for brands, businesses and media companies, announced the launch of Shutterstock.AI, a newly formed subsidiary with insights and data at the heart of its mission. Additionally, the newly established Shutterstock.AI acquired three leading AI platforms, Pattern89, Datasine, and Shotzr. With these three acquisitions, Shutterstock.AI will continue to rapidly develop its own predictive performance capabilities to help creatives and customers accomplish their goals by making more data-informed content decisions.
https://investor.shutterstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/shutterstock-announces-formation-shutterstockai-and-acquisition
Shutterstock Acquires Creative Design Platform, PicMonkey
7th September 2021 - Global creative platform, Shutterstock, Inc, which offers full-service solutions, high-quality content, and applications for brands, businesses and media companies, announced the acquisition of PicMonkey, an online graphic design and image editing platform that enables creators of any skill level to design high-quality visual assets -- from presentations, advertisements and logos, to business cards and banners -- for an array of use cases, including digital marketing, advertising, and social media posts.
https://investor.shutterstock.com/news-releases/news-release-details/shutterstock-acquires-picmonkey-leading-creative-design-platform

Qualcomm Acquired NUVIA for $1.4 Billion
San Diego - 13th January 2021 - Qualcomm Incorporated announced that its subsidiary, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., entered into a definitive agreement to acquire NUVIA for approximately $1.4 billion before working capital and other adjustments. Cristiano Amon, President and CEO-Elect, Qualcomm Incorporated, commented: “5G, the convergence of computing and mobile architectures, and the expansion of mobile technologies into other industries are significant opportunities for Qualcomm. The NUVIA team are proven innovators, and like Qualcomm, have a strong heritage in creating leading technology and products. I am very excited to have them join our team. Together, we are very well positioned to redefine computing and enable our ecosystem of partners to drive innovation and deliver a new class of products and experiences for the 5G era.” As part of the transaction, NUVIA founders Gerard Williams III, Manu Gulati and John Bruno, and their employees will be joining Qualcomm.
https://www.qualcomm.com/news/releases/2021/01/13/qualcomm-acquire-nuvia

 

20 December 2021