M&A roundup - week ending 3/12/16

Steven Loeb · March 12, 2016 · Short URL: https://vator.tv/n/43e7

GM bought Cruise; Cisco acquired Synata; Intel purchased Replay Technologies

Facebook acquired face swapping app Masquerade. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Masquerade has been working on software technology that enhances videos with filters, masks and otherspecial effects. In addition to face swapping, it also offers video filters and a 3D effects rendering SDK. ForFacebook, acquiring Masquerade continues its strategy of building out its creative tools, which hasincluded stickers on photos, text on photos, doodles and filters, over the past year.

Going forward, key members of the team, including Masquerade's founders, Eugene Nevgen, SergeyGonchar and Eugene Zatepyakin, will be coming to work in Facebook’s London office. Masquerade,meanwhile, will continue to run as a standalone app.

Founded in 2015, the company's investors included Yuri Gurski and Gagarin Capital.

Reward Gateway, a provider of SaaS employee engagement software, acquired Yomp, a B2Bemployee-engagement platform. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Ry Morgan, Yomp's founder, will join the company as head of wellbeing technology, and CTO PascalGessati is joining as principle engineer.

Launched in 2012, Yomp had raised $303,000 in venture funding.

Intel acquired video 3D reconstruction technologies company Replay Technologies. No financialterms of the deal were disclosed. 

As part of Intel, the team will focus on growing their existing business and advancing their technology withIntel to deliver faster freeD processing and new features like the ability to manipulate and editpersonalized content. The technology will specifically be used to enhance sports broadcasting. 

Intel has been collaborating with Replay since 2013 to optimize their interactive, immersive video contenton Intel platforms.

Founded in 2011, Replay Technologies had raised $22.5 million in funding from Deutsche TelekomCapital Partners, Guggenheim Partners, OurCrowd, Samsung Ventures and Trinity Capital Investment.

Cisco acquired enterprise cloud search engine Synata. No financial terms of the deal weredisclosed. 

Synata has terminated all services as of March 6th, 2016 as its team and technology transition to joinCisco’s Collaboration Technology Group.  All Synata accounts have been closed and madepermanently inaccessible as it has terminated all services and securely deleted its search index.

Cisco plans to integrate the Synata technology into Spark, its business collaboration service. 

Founded in 2012, Synata had raised $1.45 million in venture funding.

Analytics software provider Tableau acquired advanced database technology company HyPer. Nofinancial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Tableau intends to incorporate the HyPer echnology into its product set.  The HyPer team will be basedin Munich. Tableau plans to invest additional resources in Munich to leverage the talent from TUMfor further innovation that will enhance future Tableau products.

HyPer grew out of a research project started in 2010 by professors Dr. Thomas Neumann and Dr. AlfonsKemper, chair of TUM's database group. Four of the project's Ph.D. students, TobiasMuehlbauerWolf RoedigerViktor Leis and Jan Finis, will join Tableau, focused onintegrating HyPer into Tableau products.

WeTransfer, a  file transfer service, acquired Present Plus, a design driven startup studio that buildsand invests in startups. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The Present Plus team will join WeTransfer’s offices in Amsterdam, leading a series of design-drivenproduct launches for the company, including a revamped user interface for WeTransfer.com and adesktop app for OS X. 

Present Plus London will continue to produce film for existing and new clients as an independent film &production studio. 

Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a technology-focused private equity firm, entered into a definitiveagreement with Intuit to acquire its QuickBase business. No financial terms of the dealwere disclosed. 

WCAS intends to operate QuickBase as a stand-alone company with its headquarters basedin Cambridge, Mass. Upon close, QuickBase General Manager Allison Mnookin will be namedCEO of the newly independent company, joined by her existing senior management team and more than200 employees. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

QuickBase provides a low-code development platform to more than 6,000 business customers to enablethe creation and rapid deployment of customized, purpose-built cloud applications.

Once the transaction is closed, Intuit will become one of QuickBase's largest customers with more than10,000 actively used apps, created without code and used across all employees and departments.

Video game publisher Riot Games acquired game developer Radiant Entertainment. No financialterms of the deal were disclosed. 

Radiant is behind games like Stonehearth and fighting game Rising Thunder. While the company willcontinue to develop Stonehearth the team behind Rising Thunder will start work on a new game.Rising Thunder on March 18th.

Founded in 2013, Radiant Entertainment had raised $4.5 million in venture funding from AndreessenHorowitz, General Catalyst Partners and London Venture Partners.

BBVA, a Spanish banking company, acquired online business banking service Holvi. No financialterms of the deal were disclosed. 

Holvi will continue to be run as a stand-alone business, and there will be a two-way flow of knowledge,ideas and support between Holvi and BBVA. 

Founded in 2011, the company had raised $4.13 million in funding from Seedcamp, Speedinvest andThomas Madsen-Mygdal.

Veeqo an e-commerce inventory software company, acquired parcel delivery companyParcelBright. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

ParcelBright’s software will be merged into Veeqo’s allowing our users to access major new shippingintegrations such as DHL, DX, Interlink, DPD and Collect+. It will also allow for quicker and cheapershipping rates.

ParcelBright Co-founders Daniel Lipinski and Carlos Vilhena will act as expert advisors for Veeqo, bothcommercially and technically to further build on Veeqo’s market lead.

Founded in 2013, ParcelBright had raised $1 million in venture funding from Talis Capital.

Nexon, a global developer and publisher of free-to-play PC and mobile online games, acquired videogame developer Big Huge Games. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The two companies had previously worked together to create mobile strategy game DomiNations, whichhas had over 19 million downloads.

Going forward, Big Huge Games will create new titles for Nexon, while also continue to developDomiNations.

Banking startup Atom Bank acquired website design and online marketing company Grasp. Nofinancial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Brian Jobling, owner of Grasp, will become Business Development Director at Atom. The developmentteam from Grasp will now be part of the Atom family, based in Durham.

The acquisition of Grasp is part of Atom’s strategic plan to create the most engaging user experience inbanking. 

FTS Holding Corporation, the parent company of CardConnect, a payment processing andtechnology solutions provider, and FinTech Acquisition, a blank check company, have entered into adefinitive merger agreement. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

FNTC will acquire CardConnect and will be renamed CardConnect Corp. The merged company willapply to continue the listing of its common stock on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol“CCN.”

Once the transaction is closed, CardConnect will continue to be led by Jeff Shanahan, President andChief Executive Officer; Chuck Bernicker, Chief Financial Officer; Patrick Shanahan, Chief OperatingOfficer; Rob Nathan, Executive Vice President, Product; Rush Taggart, Chief Security Officer; Scott Dowty,Chief Sales Officer; and Angelo Grecco, Executive Vice President.

Along with FNTC Chairman Betsy Z. Cohen, Richard Garman, FTV Capital Managing Partner, and ChrisWinship, FTV Capital Partner, will serve on the CardConnect Board of Directors.

PledgeMusic, a direct-to-fan e-commerce platform, acquired NoiseTrade, a platform connectingartists with fans through the exchange of music for contact information, and Set.fm, anapplication that allows musicians to record and sell their recordings online. No financial terms of thedeal were disclosed. 

The newly integrated company will have a user-base of more than 3 million active users. With theseacquisitions, PledgeMusic's model of enabling individual fans to directly support artists is poised forexponential growth across all levels of the creative community and consumer landscape.

Founded in 2011, Set.fm had raised $2.27 million in funding from ATX Seed Ventures, Golden VenturePartners, Houston Angel Network, and Texas Halo Fund.

Immusoft Corporation, a gene therapy company, acquired Discovery Genomics, another company inthe same space. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition brings to Immusoft Discovery Genomics; technology, the Sleeping Beauty TransposonSystem, which the company uses to deliver genes into cells without using a virus. 

The acquisition gives Immusoft a license to use the Sleeping Beauty Transposon System for MPS I, andlicense options for hemophilia and inherited lysosomal storage disorders.

Booker, a platform for service commerce, acquired Frederick, an intelligent marketing automationplatform for appointment and class-based service businesses. No financial terms of the deal weredisclosed. 

Frederick will continue to retain its existing brand and provide integration with other businessmanagement solutions, including those in other verticals. More than 200 Booker customers have alreadystarted using Frederick as part of an initial internal rollout.

The acquisition expands Booker's leadership in fueling the service economy, and helps fulfill its promiseof helping service-based SMB owners improve their customer satisfaction and retention, leading togreater revenues and greater freedom to focus on the work they love.   

The acquisition also accelerates Booker's strategy to enter new markets such as automotive. 

INRIX, a provider of connected car services worldwide, completed the acquisition of OpenCar, anautomotive software and services provider. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The OpenCar purchase extends the successful INRIX cloud platform into the dashboard with a broadportfolio of third-party content and applications in a customizable user experience (UX) automakers fullycontrol.

INRIX will continue to operate the OpenCar application management tools, work with its currentcustomers and maintain the OpenCar office in Seattle. The acquisition will expand the INRIX Seattle-areapresence beyond the current headquarters in Kirkland, WA.

UserZoom, a user experience research and testing SaaS platform, acquired research technologycompany YouEye. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The move adds to UserZoom's All-in-One User Experience solution for qualitative and quantitative UXresearch from mobile to desktop, providing intelligent and accelerated user experience design decisions,deep customer insights, and accelerated growth for customers.

Founded in 2011, YouEye raised $7.55 million in venture funding.

Equiniti Group, a provider of technology led solutions to clients with complex and regulatedadministration needs, acquired RiskFactor Solutions, a provider of risk management andfraud analytics software for commercial finance lending. No financial terms of the deal weredisclosed. 

RiskFactor provides real-time automated fraud monitoring capabilities to lenders using proprietarytechnology and algorithms. The software is primarily geared towards commercial finance lending,including factoring, invoice discounting and other types of collateral and asset-based lending.

The acquisition is a further example of Equiniti’s growth strategy of integrating scalable technologyplatforms to provide regulation driven non-discretionary services, which can be cross-sold in to itsextensive existing client base.

Venture Stream, a provider of  e-commerce and digital marketing services, acquired Commvia, aboutique digital agency. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.  

Completed March 1st, the acquisition of CommVia ncorporates IP and technical expertise into thecompany.

Going forward, Commvia co-founder Andy Redfern will become Technical Director of Venture Stream andCommVia will officially operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Venture Stream.

Digital agency AKQA acquired a majority stake in digital agency Potato. No financial terms of thedeal were disclosed. 

Potato’s teams will continue to operate independently, collaborating with AKQA on shared initiatives andprojects. 

The company delivers technical solutions for leading brands particularly in the field of Django andPython. Potato's clients include Google and Canon.

Comcast acquired OneTwoSee, which provides licensed, white-labeled products that help some ofthe biggest names in sports engage and monetize their audiences. No financial terms of the dealwere disclosed. 

Jason Angelides, Chris Reynolds and the rest of the team at OneTwo See will retain their Philadelphiaoffices, just across the street from the Comcast Center, and report up through Preston Smalley, VP ofProduct, Sports and X1 Apps in Technology.

Founded in 2010, OneTwoSee raised $1.3 million from Ben Franklin Technology Partners ofSoutheastern Pennsylvania, MissionOG and Robin Hood Ventures.

General Motors acquired Cruise Automation, a developer of self-driving technology. No financialterms of the deal were disclosed, though it is being pegged at over $1 billion by somereports. 

The San Francisco-based Cruise was the developer of technology “kits” that were able to turn cars,specifically the Audi S4 or A4, into an self-driving vehicle.

Cruise will operate as an independent unit within GM’s recently formed Autonomous VehicleDevelopment Team, which is led by Doug Parks, vice president of autonomous technology and vehicleexecution at GM. Cruise will also continue to be based in San Francisco.

Founded in 2013, Cruise had raised $18.8 million in venture funding from investors that includedAME Cloud Ventures, CrunchFund, Felicis Ventures, Homebrew, and Initialized Capital, among others.

The New York Times Company acquired digital marketing agency and portfolio company HelloSociety from Science. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Founded in 2012,  HelloSociety is a full-service Pinterest marketing and technology firm that helps brands optimize theirefforts through strategic partnerships with influential pinners, analytics and creative consulting.

The acquisition was an all-cash transaction that closed on March 11, 2016.

(Image source: liquidnetworx.com)

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