Top Ten Tech M&A Transactions This Week 6/14/24 by Ascento Capital
6/13/24 AI Founders Race to Sell Out to Larger Players
An increasing number of artificial intelligence founders want to sell their firms. That’s according to Clément Delangue, co-founder and CEO of AI startup Hugging Face, which agreed to acquire a smaller company called Argilla for $10 million, Bloomberg reported Thursday (June 13). Hugging Face already had a relationship with Argilla, which makes collaborative software for AI professionals, according to the report.
Although Hugging Face approached Argilla about the deal, Delangue reportedly told Bloomberg the company is also getting inbound requests from about 10 startups per week that want to be acquired. “This year, in particular, it has increased quite a lot,” he said, per the report. Hugging Face, which makes AI software and hosts it for other firms, could attract businesses that wish to be purchased since it has plenty of resources, Delangue said, according to the report.
6/13/24 Intuit to Acquire Zendrive to Expand Usage-Based Auto Insurance
Intuit plans to acquire technology and add employees from Zendrive to accelerate the development and adoption of Karma Drive, a telematics-powered, usage-based auto insurance product offered by Intuit business unit Credit Karma. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 and certain Zendrive employees — including CEO Dennis Ellis and Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Pankaj Risbood — will join Credit Karma, the companies said in a Thursday (June 13) press release.
“With Zendrive’s technology and experience, we strive to make usage-based auto insurance more accessible than ever and bring more transparency, fairness and accuracy to consumer auto insurance pricing, while providing insight into their driving behaviors,” Joe Kauffman, president of Credit Karma, said in the release.
6/12/24 Copenhagen-based Uizard acquired by US and Amsterdam-based Miro: Know more
Amsterdam and San Francisco-based Miro, an online collaborative whiteboard platform designed for distributed team collaboration, announced on Wednesday that it has acquired Uizard, a Copenhagen-based AI-powered product design platform for product teams.? However, the company didn’t disclose the exact amount.
Uizard will continue to be available with no changes to the day-to-day product experience.“We have long admired Miro and their mission to empower teams to create the next big thing. In fact, many of us here at Uizard use Miro alongside Uizard to accelerate ideation, design, and prototyping. We share the same vision and passion for making it easier and faster for teams to innovate and accelerate their product lifecycle. Not only did Miro pioneer the idea of visual collaboration technology, but they also continue to push themselves to exceed expectations for what an innovation workspace can and should do,” says the company.
6/11/24 Formstack Acquires Open Raven
Formstack, a Los Angeles, CA-based form, document, and eSignature software provider, acquired Open Raven, a Los Angeles, CA-based data management and security company. The amount of the deal was not disclosed.
With the acquisition, Formstack will expand its offerings. In addition to data capture, Formstack will expand its workflow platform to include data discovery, classification, and visibility to enable more data compliance and activation into the workflow, with enhanced security and control. Open Raven Chief Executive Officer Dave Cole, the former Chief Product Officer of security industry giants Tenable (TENB) and Crowdstrike (CRWD), will assume the role of Formstack’s Chief Technology Officer.
6/11/24 Madhive Acquires Frequence In A Push For Local Omnichannel Budgets
Ad tech M&A is heating up again – specifically in connected TV land. On Tuesday, TV-focused demand side platform Madhive announced its acquisition of Frequence, an omnichannel marketing platform with roots in broadcast TV. Both companies have a foothold with local advertisers.
Madhive’s vision is to become an end-to-end digital advertising hub for local businesses, including small and midsize businesses (SMBs), CEO Spencer Potts told AdExchanger. This ambition requires expanding beyond just TV and video, Potts said. This acquisition is an example of Madhive putting its money where its mouth is. In an interview last year after the company secured a $300 million investment from Goldman Sachs, Potts alluded to Madhive making an acquisition by 2024.
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6/11/24 AlphaSense valued at $4 bln in latest funding, agrees $930 mln deal for rival Tegus
Market intelligence platform AlphaSense said on Tuesday it had notched a valuation of $4 billion in a fresh funding round and agreed to buy privately held Tegus in a deal valuing the rival at $930 million. The $650 million capital raise was co-led by investment firm Viking Global Investors and merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners. It included participation from existing investors Alphabet's CapitalG and Goldman Sachs Alternatives.
AlphaSense's deal will help the company bring Chicago, Illinois-based Tegus' breadth of data on public and private companies to its platform. Tegus' financial data offering includes coverage of more than 35,000 public and private companies across consumer goods, energy, life sciences and technology, media, and telecom (TMT) sectors.
6/10/24 Booz Allen acquires PAR Government Systems for $95M
Booz Allen Hamilton has acquired the PAR Government Systems Corp. business for approximately $95 million in a move by the former to further build out its digital battlespace business in the defense landscape.
This transaction is one of two announced Monday by PAR Technology, a provider of cloud-based hardware and software solutions to the restaurant and retail industries. PAR lined up buyers for both of its government-facing entities in dual transactions worth $102 million combined in order to focus on its core business line. All figures on the transactions are disclosed in a regulatory filing by PAR, given it is a publicly-traded company.
6/10/24 Cognizant to Buy Belcan From AE Industrial Partners for $1.3 Billion
Cognizant Technology Solutions has struck a deal to buy Belcan, a supplier of engineering research-and-development services, from private-equity firm AE Industrial Partners for about $1.3 billion in cash and stock.
Cognizant on Monday said it would pay $1.19 billion in cash and issue 1.47 million shares for Belcan, which provides digital engineering services for customers in the commercial aerospace, defense, space, marine and industrial verticals, and is expected to generate annualized revenue topping $800 million. Cognizant said it plans to fund the cash portion of the deal with cash on hand and debt, adding that it will boost its share-repurchase plan in an effort to maintain its full-year 2024 share-count guidance of 497 million.
6/10/24 IBM-Spinoff Kyndryl, Apollo Eyeing DXC Technology In Potential Joint Acquisition: Report
Apollo and Kyndryl are in discussions regarding a potential acquisition offer for DXC, with the per-share bid ranging between $22 and $25, Reuters reported, citing sources.This news caused DXC’s shares to surge by 11% and conclude Monday’s trading at $18.45, resulting in a market value of $3.3 billion.
DXC, which also operates as an IT services provider, is concurrently seeking bids for the sale of its insurance software business, valued at over $2 billion. The company may also choose to remain independent under the leadership of Raul Fernandez, who took over as CEO in February.
6/10/24 Fortinet To Acquire Cloud Security Unicorn Lacework, Bolster SASE Platform
Fortinet announced Monday it has reached an agreement to acquire cloud security firm Lacework in a significant consolidation deal for the cybersecurity industry. The terms of the deal, which is expected to be completed in the second half of the year, were not disclosed.\
In a news release, Fortinet said that it would integrate capabilities from Lacework’s CNAPP (cloud-native application protection platform) into its Unified SASE offering. The combination will offer partners and customers “one of the most comprehensive, full stack AI-driven cloud security platforms available from a single vendor,” Fortinet said in the release.