Boss Insights – Weekly Tech M&A Round Up – 19th April 2019
Fastly Files Registration Statement for Proposed Initial Public Offering
San Francisco – 19th April 2019 - Fastly inc, provider of an edge cloud platform, has announced that it has publicly filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, relating to a proposed initial public offering of its Class A common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. Fastly intends to list its Class A common stock on The New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “FSLY.” BofA Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and Credit Suisse will act as joint book-running managers for the proposed offering. William Blair, Raymond James, Baird, Oppenheimer & Co., Stifel, Craig-Hallum Capital Group and D.A. Davidson & Co. will act as co-managers for the proposed offering.
https://www.fastly.com/press/press-releases/fastly-files-registration-statement-proposed-initial-public-offering
Stripe Acquires Irish payments Start-Up Touchtech
Dublin, Ireland - 17th April 2019 - Stripe, the Silicon Valley company founded by Limerick-born brothers Patrick and John Collison, has acquired Irish start-up Touchtech Payments for an undisclosed sum. Touchtech provides advanced, strong customer authentication (SCA) technology for financial institutions. SCA is a new EU regulation that comes into effect in September that is forecast to radically change the way European customers buy online. The legislation requires businesses to build an extra layer of authentication into online card payments. Stripe a fast-growing Online payments company, Stripe, is valued at $22.5 billion and has also designed a SCA-ready payment application programming interface (APIs) and products to help companies manage the complexity of the new legislation. Stripe’s Chief Executive, Patrick Collision, said, “Touchtech builds software that helps banks enable frictionless and secure payment experiences on mobile and desktop. We’re looking forward to supporting their work to improve the online payments ecosystem.“ In a statement, Touchtech said they will continue to grow their products, based out of Stripe’s R&D hub in Dublin.
https://blog.touchtechpayments.com/touchtech-joins-stripe-c46413e7b01c
Salesforce is buying MapAnything, a startup that raised over $84 million
San Francisco - 17th April 2019 - Salesforce has signed a definitive agreement to acquire MapAnything, a pioneer in location-based intelligence software, built natively on the Salesforce Platform. MapAnything integrates map-based visualization, asset tracking and route optimization to drive efficiency for field sales and service teams and deliver a better customer experience. The addition of MapAnything to Salesforce will help the world's leading brands accurately plan: how many people they need, where to put them, how to make them as productive as possible, how to track what’s being done in real time and what they can learn to improve going forward. Announcing the deal, Salesforce said it was a logical acquisition on many levels: in addition to being built on the Salesforce platform, the product is sold through the Salesforce AppExchange, and over the years MapAnything has also been a Salesforce SI Partner, an ISV Premier Partner. Neither company has revealed terms of the of the deal. With MapAnything, Salesforce will be uniquely positioned to extend the power of Sales Cloud and Service Cloud post-closing to deliver market-leading location-based intelligence solutions that improve field sales and service employee productivity and deliver customer success.
https://www.salesforce.com/company/news-press/stories/2019/04/041719-h/
Ellie Mae Acquired by Thoma Bravo
Pleasanton, California – 17th April 2019 – Ellie Mae®, a cloud-based platform provider for the mortgage finance industry, has announced that it has been acquired by Thoma Bravo, LLC, a private equity investment firm, in an all-cash transaction that values Ellie Mae at an aggregate equity value of approximately $3.7 billion. With the completion of the acquisition, Ellie Mae’s common stock ceased trading and is no longer listed on the New York Stock Exchange. Jonathan Corr, President and CEO of Ellie Mae, said: “The closing of this transaction represents the beginning of the next chapter in our digital mortgage journey as we work toward our North Star of automating everything automatable for the residential mortgage industry. Thoma Bravo brings deep expertise and together we are committed to supporting our lenders’ success, fostering innovation and growth of the Encompass Digital Lending Platform and accelerating our value for our ecosystem of customers, partners and employees.” Holden Spaht, a Managing Partner at Thoma Bravo, said, “Thoma Bravo has long been impressed with Ellie Mae’s unique position as the leader in mortgage technology solutions. The company’s exceptional products and deep commitment to automate the mortgage process allows it to maintain its prominent position in an industry undergoing an extensive digital transformation,”
https://www.elliemae.com/about/news-reports/press-releases/ellie-mae-acquired-by-thoma-bravo
Clearlake-Backed symplr Acquires IntelliSoft
Santa Monica, CA and Houston, TX - 16th April 2019 - symplr, a healthcare governance, risk and compliance (GRC) software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform, backed by Clearlake Capital Group, L.P.”) and SkyKnight Capital, has announced that it has completed the acquisition of IntelliSoft Group. The acquisition further strengthens symplr’s platform, adding IntelliSoft’s complementary provider credentialing software and NCQA certified Credentials Verification Organization (CVO) service offering. The acquisition of IntelliSoft represents symplr’s seventh successful acquisition in the past six years, and its second under sponsorship from Clearlake and SkyKnight, which was announced in October 2018. “symplr’s acquisition of IntelliSoft represents an exciting growth opportunity for both of our businesses,” said Rick Pleczko, CEO, and Tres Thompson, COO & CFO, of symplr. “The combination of our technologies and services offers even greater regulatory compliance and increased operational efficiency to healthcare providers and payers. Together, we look forward to delivering the most innovative solutions as we serve the unique and evolving needs of our customers.”
https://www.symplr.com/community/press/clearlake-backed-symplr-acquires-intellisoft
Rhenus acquires Miami-based Freight Logistics Group
Miami, Florida - 16th April 2019 - Rhenus has acquired Miami-headquartered high-tech supply chain specialist Freight Logistics as the German freight forwarding group continues on the acquisition trail in the Americas. Florida-based Freight Logistics operates its own consolidation hub located near in Miami International Airport and has offices in Argentina, Brazil and Chile. Over the past two years, Rhenus has made a succession of acquisitions in Europe and Africa and this latest acquisition will strengthen their presence in the Americas. Jörn Schmersahl, Chief Executive of Rhenus Air & Ocean Americas, said: “Freight Logistics’ focus on high tech and IT, including the development of its own proprietary IT software and warehousing management system infrastructure, mobile applications, implementation and integration services, will “complement” Rhenus activities in the region.”
https://www.rhenus.com/en/uk/news/uk-news/news-detail/article/rhenus-further-consolidates-network-in-the-americas-by-acquiring-miami-based-freight-logistics-group/
Intel Acquires Omnitek, Strengthens FPGA Video and Vision Offering
Basingstoke, UK - 16th April 2019 - Intel Corporation has announced the acquisition of Omnitek, a provider of optimized video and vision FPGA IP solutions. Omnitek’s technology enables customized high-performance vision and artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing capabilities on FPGAs for customers across a range of end markets. Omnitek’s IP addresses demanding application requirements in areas such as video conferencing, projection and display, medical vision systems, and more. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. “Omnitek’s technology is a great complement to our FPGA business. Their deep, system-level FPGA expertise and high-performance video and vision related technology have made them a trusted partner for many of our most important customers. Together, we will deliver leading FPGA solutions for video, vision and AI inferencing applications on Intel FPGAs and speed time-to-market for our existing customers while winning new ones.” said Dan McNamara, Intel Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Programmable Solutions Group
https://newsroom.intel.com/news/intel-acquires-omnitek-fpgas/#gs.5mp8gw
Publicis Groupe to Acquire Epsilon for $3.95 Billion
Paris - 14th April 2019 - Publicis Groupe has announced it has entered into an agreement with Alliance Data Systems Corporation, under which Publicis Groupe will acquire Alliance Data’s Epsilon business for a net purchase price of $3.95 billion after tax step-up (total cash consideration of $4.40bn) and build a strategic partnership with Alliance Data remaining business. This acquisition will accelerate the implementation of Publicis’ strategy to become the preferred transformation partner for its clients. Arthur Sadoun, Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, said: “Our clients are facing increasing pressure from the rise in consumer expectations, the mainstreaming of direct-to-consumer brands and new data regulations. The only response is to deliver personalized experiences at scale. They have to transform to meet this new market imperative. With the acquisition of Epsilon, Publicis Groupe is bringing the necessary technology, expertise and the talent to complement our offer in creativity, media and business transformation, and help our clients leapfrog their competition and grow profitably..”
https://www.publicisgroupe.com/en/news/press-releases/publicis-groupe-to-acquire-epsilon
Jumia listed on the New York Stock Exchange
Nigeria - 12th April 2019 - Jumia Technologies AG, a pan-African e-commerce platform, has officially announced its listing on the New York Stock Exchange. This listing is the result of a team success, and all the Jumia employees across Africa rang the “bell” at the same time in each country and in New York. Founded in 2012, Jumia started a mission to improve the quality of everyday life in Africa, by leveraging technology to deliver innovative, convenient and affordable online services to consumers. Jumia further empowers businesses to grow, by using its platform to reach and serve consumers across the continent. Jumia is currently active in 14 African countries with more than 81,000 active sellers transacting online with millions of consumers. The e-commerce platform directly employs more than 5,000 team members in Africa.
https://group.jumia.com/jumia-listed-on-the-new-york-stock-exchange/
Vimeo to Acquire Magisto to Power Video Creation for Any Business
15th April 2019 - Vimeo has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Israel-based Magisto, a video creation service with over 100 million users. Magisto enables simple and intuitive short-form video creation for any medium. The combination of Magisto’s professional video creation capabilities with Vimeo’s suite of video hosting, distribution and monetization tools will extend Vimeo’s position as the industry’s most complete video SaaS solution. Anjali Sud, CEO of Vimeo, explained, “Social media has sparked an insatiable demand for video – Audiences today expect high-quality video content from every business, regardless of size or budget. But we’ve found that most small businesses don’t have the tools, resources or expertise to meet this increased demand.” He continued, “Magisto’s proprietary technology enables cutting edge mobile apps and AI-powered editing tools which, combined with Vimeo’s scale and unmatched creator community, will empower more people to tell compelling stories through video.”
https://press.vimeo.com/56830-vimeo-to-acquire-magisto-to-power-video-creation-for-any-business
EDTS and EDTS Cyber Announces Private Equity Partnership and Merger with Corsica
Augusta, GA – 15th April 2019 – EDTS, an IT Service Provider, and their sister company, EDTS Cyber, a provider of security services, have announced a partnership with private equity firm, Inverness Graham. As a part of this relationship, EDTS and EDTS Cyber will merge with Inverness Graham portfolio company, Corsica Technologies, another IT Service Provider in the mid-Atlantic region. EDTS specializes in managed IT services, professional services, cloud services, and disaster recovery and business continuity solutions. In addition, EDTS Cyber is an award-winning cybersecurity practice focused on 24x7x365 security monitoring, threat prevention, assessments, incident response, and consulting services for clients concerned about cyber risks. Dale Walls, CEO of Corsica, will assume the CEO role for the combined entities. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
https://www.edts.com/news
Amazon Acquires Canvas Technology to Bolster Warehouse Robotics Capabilities
Boulder, CO - 10th April 2019 - Amazon has acquired Canvas Technology, a Boulder, Colo., robotics company that powers autonomous vehicles in industrial settings. For years now, Amazon has pushed to automate parts of its warehouses, deploying robots alongside human workers. This acquisition continues that focus, building on Amazon’s $775 million acquisition of robotics company Kiva Systems in 2012. The company’s technology essentially boils down to driverless cars for warehouses. Canvas Technology uses “spatial artificial intelligence” and state-of-the-art cameras to help vehicles autonomously navigate through areas with a lot of moving parts, including people on foot and operating equipment. TechCrunch first reported the acquisition, and Amazon issued the following statement on the deal: “We are inspired by Canvas Technology’s innovations and share a common vision for a future where people work alongside robotics to further improve safety and the workplace experience. We look forward to working with Canvas Technology’s fantastic team to keep inventing for customers.” Canvas is led by CEO, Jonathan McQueen. The company raised a $15 million Series A round in 2017.
https://www.geekwire.com/2019/amazon-acquires-canvas-technology-bolster-warehouse-robotics-capabilities/
US Tech Company, SolarWinds Acquires Israeli AI Company for US$350 Million
Netanya, Israel – 11th April - US tech company, SolarWinds, a provider of IT (information technology) software, has acquired Samanage, an Israeli provider of enterprise IT management software, for US$350 million. This is SolarWinds’ first acquisition in Israel, but it is expected to increase its foothold there by making additional acquisitions. Samanage products combine advanced artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies that enable organizations to automate intra-organizational service processes. Samanage was established in 2007 and its headquarters are in both the Israeli coastal city of Netanya and in Cary, North Carolina. To date, Samanage has raised about US$69 million. Founded in 1999, SolarWinds is headquartered in Austin, Texas and trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a market cap of about US$5.85 billion. After completion of the transaction, SolarWinds intends to immediately integrate Samanage products into its IT operations.
https://www.solarwinds.com/
