M&A roundup - week ending 5/21/16

AT&T bought Quickplay; GoDaddy acquired FreedomVoice; Direct Eats purchased Abe's Market

AT&T acquired Quickplay, a cloud-based platform providing managed services for the distribution of multi-screen video to IP-connected devices, from private equity investment firm Madison Dearborn Partners. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Founded in 2003, Quickplay allows TV to be streamed over any device, letting companies deliver multiscreen experiences to their customers. AT&T now be using the company's technologu to power its upcoming streaming services, based on its purchase of DirecTV for $48.5 billion last year. 

Quickplay’s more than 350 employees and contractors will continue to work for the company, which will also remain as a separate service, allowing it to continue to support its current customers, which include Vodafone, Samsung, Verizon, and SiriusXM,

The company had raised over $184 million in venture funding, from investors that included General Catalyst Partners, Difference Capital, Madison Dearborn Partners, Relay Partners, and Up Capital, among others. 

Smartling, a content translation service, acquired VerbalizeIt, a provider of translation services for businesses. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition will allow Smartling to augment its enterprise translation management platform with translation capabilities for audio, video and other multimedia content.

In addition to integrating its software into the Smartling platform, VerbalizeIt's Co-Founders, Ryan Frankel and Kunal Sarda, will take on leadership roles within the company. Frankel is tasked with developing channel and partnership alliances, while Sarda will focus on the product experience for customers and translators. The acquisition brings hundreds of VerbalizeIt customers to Smartling.

Founded in 2011, VerbalizeIt had raised $2.45 million in venture funding.

Aquamira Technologies, a water filtration company, agreed to acquire the assets of Geigerrig, a provider of pressurized hydration systems and packs. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.

The line of Geigerrig hydration engines and packs will be exclusively offered to its customers by Aquamira Technologies from this point forward. Bob Geiger, Geigerrig cofounder, will join the Aquamira team as Geigerrig product manager. Curt Geiger will support sales as consultant.

Geigerrig products will still be available and supported.

BeMyEye, a provider of real-time business insights from physical locations, acquired competitor LocalEyes. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition of LocalEyes will give BeMyEye access to new customers and a total crowd of 250,000, enabling the company to emerge as the European leader in the growing market for real world mobile crowdsourced data insights.

Founded in 2013, LocalEyes had raised funding from NUMA. 

FIH Mobile, a handset manufacturing service providers, agreed to acquire Microsoft's entry-level feature phone assets. The price is $350 million. 

As part of the deal, Microsoft will transfer substantially all of its feature phone assets, including brands, software and services, care network and other assets, customer contracts, and critical supply agreements, subject to compliance with local law. FIH Mobile Ltd. will also acquire Microsoft Mobile Vietnam, the company’s Hanoi, Vietnam, manufacturing facility.

Upon close of this deal, approximately 4,500 employees will transfer to, or have the opportunity to join, FIH Mobile Ltd. or its parent company, HMD Global, Oy, subject to compliance with local law.

Microsoft will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones such as the Lumia 650, Lumia 950 and Lumia 950 XL, and phones from OEM partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016, subject to regulatory approvals and other closing conditions.

Apprenda, a provider of cloud-native technologies for the enterprise, acquired Kismatic, an enterprise Kubernetes company. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

With the acquisition, Apprenda now offers a commercial distribution of Kubernetes, along with new enterprise support subscriptions available to any company running Kubernetes. 

Apprenda will continue to expand Kismatic's existing business operations, supporting subscriptions that provide Kubernetes users with guaranteed SLAs for production and non-production Kubernetes instances.

Glispa, an online marketing company, acquired mobile ad marketing company Mobils. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

In acquiring Mobils, Glispa continues its global and localized team expansion within Brazil's burgeoning mobile commerce market.

The two companies began their LATAM partnership earlier this year, where Glispa provided technology, tracking and operations support to MOBILS' mobile advertising initiatives. After several months working together, the two companies noticed many synergies between their solutions and became focused on forming a long-term partnership.

Madison Logic, a company dedicated to solving the digital needs of B2B marketers, acquired Internal Results, a provider of B2B lead generation solutions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition expands Madison Logic’s international reach. Internal Results, located outside of Dublin, will operate as a stand-alone business within Madison Logic and will continue as well as support its direct customers.

Internal Results was founded in 2011. 

Shapiro+Raj, an independent research and insights company, acquired MutualMind, a provider of real-time social-listening analytics, visualization and engagement solutions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Shapiro+Raj will combine MutualMind’s digital technologies with its current research and strategy products and services to bring a new level of speed, agility and actionable next-generation insights to its clients.

With the acquisition of MutualMind, Shapiro+Raj adds social-data acquisition and analytics of user-generated content; real-time social-data monitoring from across the globe; social-data analytics and visualizations; brand and competitor tracking; and focused listening of specialized conversations.

Founded in 2009, MutualMind had raised $450,000 in venture funding.

EasyPark, a mobile parking service, acquired Parko, a provider of parking data. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Parko's algorithms for providing accuracy on block-by-block parking availability helps drivers discover the most efficient route for finding parking. 

The Tel Aviv-based Parko was founded in 2011. It raised $1.1 million in venture funding from Ilja Gorelik, OurCrowd, SparkLabs Global Ventures and Tumml. 

Allegion, a global security products and solutions provider, agreed to acquire Trelock, a portable safety and security provider. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Following the close of the transaction, Trelock will operate as part of Allegion’s EMEIA region. Trelock Managing Director Andreas Rott will remain with the Trelock business after close in a consulting capacity, supporting the portable security team in executing on its growth strategies.

The transaction is expected to close in the second or third quarter of this year, subject to regulatory approvals.

NICE, a provider of software for  customer experience solutions, entered into a definitive agreement to be acquire inContact, a provider of cloud contact center software and contact center optimization tools. 

Under the terms of the agreement, inContact stockholders will receive $14.00 per share in cash. The per share purchase price represents a 55% premium to the closing price on May 17, 2016, the last trading day prior to the announcement of the transaction, and a 49% premium to the 30 day volume weighted average price.

Jefferies LLC is serving as exclusive financial advisor, and Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP and Parsons Behle & Latimer are serving as legal advisors, to inContact.

The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2016.

RealPage, a provider of on-demand software and software-enabled services, acquired AssetEye, a data aggregation, reporting and collaboration platform. The purchase price was $4.8 million. 

The acquisition will serve to expand RealPage’s SaaS offering to serve all asset classes, including commercial, hospitality, multifamily, single family, senior living and student housing.

The AssetEye suite of solutions will be marketed under the name Portfolio Asset Management.

AssetEye was founded in 2001.

HudlHealth, a healthcare communication platform and solutions provider, acquired Seratis, a healthcare technology platform for secure messaging and care team transparency. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

With this acquisition, HudlHealth unveiled its business operations and launches a cloud-based platform to serve as the Healthcare Unified Digital Lifeline (HUDL) by offering professionals, patients and caregivers cross-device, real-time communication solutions.

Seratis was co-founded in 2013. It raised $890,000 in venture funding from DreamIt Ventures and TMCx Accelerator.

Trekksoft, an activities reservation platform, acquired Myobis, a German software specialist for the tourism and events sector. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Myobis will continue to run as a standalone business, with the team remaining and no immediate changes expected for its existing customers.

Founded in 2015, Myobis has two major products – Myobis Business and Myobis Events. 

GoDaddy, a technology provider dedicated to small businesses, entered into an agreement to acquire FreedomVoice, a provider of cloud-based VoIP phone systems. The purchase price was $42 million in cash plus up to $5 million in potential future milestones payments.

The addition of FreedomVoice's team and its cloud-based communications products furthers GoDaddy's commitment to helping small businesses succeed.

FreedomVoice products will continue to be available online and through partners. GoDaddy and FreedomVoice plan to deliver new cloud-based voice products in the near future. FreedomVoice CEO Eric Thomas will become Telephony Revenue and Integration Officer at GoDaddy.

Synopsys, a provider of tools and services for digital system-on-chip design, completed its acquisition of Simpleware, a provider of software products for the conversion of 3D scan data into computer models. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The Simpleware products address product design and data analysis applications in the life sciences, consumer products, aerospace, automotive, defense, oil and gas industries.

The acquisition expands Synopsys' presence in the software quality and security market by adding new talent, technology and products to the company's Software Integrity Platform and extending its existing software composition analysis (SCA) solution.

The acquisition was first announced in November. 

Direct Eats, a distributor in the online food industry, acquired the business and brands of Abe's Market, a competing distributor in the online food industry. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed.

Founded in 2009, Abe's Market raised $19.15 million un venture funding. 

Broadcom, a semiconductor connectivity company, acquired MagnaCom, which develops 5G wireless communications technology. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

MagnaCom was founded in 2012 by CEO Yossi Cohen and CTO Amir Eliaz and has raised $8 million to date. The company has 20 employees.

Broadcom has a market cap of $56 billion and has 8,200 employees worldwide. It was recently acquired by Avago.

Cellwize, a Self-Organizing Network solutions provider, acquired CrowdX, a provider of a mobile crowdsourcing solution. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Cellwize’s offering enhanced with crowdsourcing technology enables a range of unique capabilities for operators; evolving from a network-centric to a customer-centric optimization approach resulting in increased subscriber loyalty and profitability.

Founded in 2009, CrowdX had raised $3 million in venture funding.

Trepp, a provider of information, analytics, and technology to the CMBS, commercial real estate, and banking markets, acquired Codean, a firm delivering data and cash flow analytics for collateralized loan obligations.

The Codean solution will become part of the Trepp solution suite. 

 Codean with its US and European CLO deal library, and Trepp with the largest commercially available CMBS database, enable investors to perform deep analysis across two complementary asset classes.

Elsevier, a provider of scientific, technical and medical information products and services, acquired the Social Science Research Network, a scholarly research preprint repository and online community. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

SSRN will be further developed alongside Mendeley, a free reference manager and scholarly collaboration network owned by Elsevier. SSRN’s Chairman, CEO and other employees will remain with the company, and SSRN will retain its freemium model, with content ‘free to submit, and free to download’ for its users.

SSRN was founded in 1994.

Blue Star Sports, an integrated software and payments provider to youth sports organizations, finalized its acquisition of Goalline, a provider of sports technology solutions to Sports associations. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition of Goalline further expands Blue Star Sports offerings to new customers, as-well as to its existing 8 million users, by providing an enhanced and complete suite of products that simplify the youth sports management experience to coaches, parents, volunteers and players across all youth sports.

Founded in 2002, Goalline currently has over 10 million users.

FOTV Media Networks, a live streaming TV network, acquired OVGuide, a platform for online video discovery. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

OVGuide joins FilmOn TV Networks and CinemaNow to form am ecosystem that delivers a solution for online entertainment.

OVGuide has millions of downloads of its applications on Android and iOS and currently powers and monetizes a network of 19 movie and TV channels on Roku.  Integration with the FOTV group of companies will expand OVGuide's reach globally, exposing the platform to FilmOn TV's strategic partners such as Lenovo, as well as introducing it to FilmOn.com's 70 million monthly unique users.

Founded in 2006, OVGuide had raised $7.98 million in venture funding.  

Awesome Commerce, a provider of online shopping cart software, acquired StoreFront.net, an e-commerce solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, from Freestyle Solutions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Awesome Commerce has acquired the source code and related intellectual property associated with the StoreFront.net product and Applied Innovations will provide related hosting services following a brief transition period.

Founded in 1996, StoreFront.net had raised $6 million in venture funding from Shasta Ventures.

Berkley Capital, the private equity investment vehicle of W.R. Berkley Corporation, acquired Corporate Imaging Concepts, a provider of products and services for brand building from Greene Holcomb Fisher. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

Founded in 1996, CIC developed supply chain technology and processes for the promotional products market that shorten delivery times, reduce error rates and decrease logistics costs. CIC’s platform provides clients with a streamlined, turnkey solution for the distribution of branded merchandise and the operation of incentive and uniform programs.

GHF served as exclusive financial advisor to CIC in the transaction.

Novanta, a supplier of laser, precision motion, and vision technologies,  reached an agreement to acquire Reach Technology, a provider of embedded touch screen technology solutions for Original Equipment Manufacturers in the medical and advanced industrial markets. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The Reach Technologu business will be combined into Novanta's NDS Surgical Imaging business. Reach Technology's family of embedded touch screen technology will complement NDS's portfolio of medical grade displays.

The transaction is expected to close later this month.

ITelagen, an IT Support and Hosting service for healthcare providers and practices, acquired Planet Logic, a healthcare cloud hosting company. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquisition will marry the IT and EHR Support and Hosting Services of ITelagen with the custom healthcare hosting solutions of Planet Logic. 

Planet Logic was founded in 1997, The deal is expected to close on May 31, 2016.

Inteliquent, a voice and messaging interconnection partner for communications service providers, acquired Shopety, also known as Better Voice, a developer of communications software and next generation switching technologies. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The acquired technologies expand the capabilities and addressable market of Inteliquent's Omni product line. Omni is Inteliquent's voice and messaging solution for the next generation telecommunications service provider market.

Better Voice was founded in 2011.

StrateSphere, a company that specializes in empowering the next generation of professionals in emerging economies, acquired Venture Highway, a provider of integrated learning system for teaching entrepreneurship. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

The Venture Highway platform will continue to be used by colleges and high schools around the world, but it will also become a part of larger strategic initiatives developed by StrateSphere to build innovation and entrepreneurship programs in emerging economies.

Kevin Gadd, CEO of Venture Highway, will become StrateSphere’s VP of Education Solutions.

Founded in 2010, Venture Highway had raised $1.55 million in venture funding from NCT Ventures.

NXT-ID, a company focused on the mobile commerce market, entered into an interest purchase agreement to acquire LogicMark, a provider of unmonitored personal emergency response devices. The purchase price was $20 Million in cash.

LogicMark members will be paid an earn out based on achieving certain performance goals within the next 18 months.

NXT-ID plans to integrate its voice biometric technology as well as fall detection sensors and miniaturization skills to future versions of LogicMark products. In addition, the company believes it can potentially enhance the retail presence of LogicMark products.

The anticipated closing date is no later than June 30, 2016, subject to customary closing conditions, including a financing contingency.

Buddy Platform,  a platform for collecting and processing Internet of Things data, executed a letter of intent to acquire the assets of Noveda Technologies, provides real-time energy and water monitoring solutions. No financial terms of the deal were disclosed. 

With the acquisition Noveda scales its backend data infrastructure, while Buddy gets the opportunity to get closer to the needs of the modern smart city and building customers. The two companies have been united their services over the last few months.

Founded in 2006, Noveda had raised $8.95 million in venture funding from Europlay Capital Advisors.

(Image source: hollymrollins.com)