Top Ten Tech M&A Transactions This Week 6/28/24
6/26/24 OpenAI buys a remote collaboration platform
OpenAI is on an M&A tear. Days after acquiring database tech firm Rockset, OpenAI has purchased Multi (previously Remotion), a startup developing an enterprise-focused, video-first collaboration platform. A source familiar with the matter says that the deal is technically an acqui-hire and that most of Multi’s team — around five people — will join OpenAI following the deal’s close.
Alexander Embiricos, Multi’s CEO and one of its co-founders, says that Multi will shut down after July 24.“We’re beyond excited to share that Multi is joining OpenAI,” he wrote in a post on Multi’s blog. “Thank you to everybody who used Multi. It was a privilege building with you, and we learned a ton from you.” As with the Rockset buy, the Multi deal seems to fit into OpenAI’s broader recent strategy of investing heavily in enterprise solutions.
6/26/24 Nubank acquires AI-for-banks startup Hyperplane
Just seven months after announcing a $6 million seed funding round, Hyperplane, a San Francisco-based data intelligence startup that is building foundation models for banks, announced Wednesday that it has been acquired by Brazil’s Nubank. Hyperplane was founded in 2022 by Daniel Silva, Felipe Lamounier, Rohan Ramanath and Felipe Meneses.
When the company launched out of stealth last year, Ramanath explained that the main focus was to build a personalization layer for banks across the world. “The goal for Hyperplane is, if banks across the world have a lot of first-party data, what does it take to build a data intelligence layer so that banks can plug in their first-party data?” Hyperplane focused on allowing banks to train their own models to power tools across their risk, collections and marketing departments. Now, the team will continue this work at Nubank, the largest digital banking platform outside of Asia, which reported revenues of over $2.7 billion last quarter.?
6/25/24 Boeing’s Wisk Aero buys Verocel to boost software safety for its self-flying eVTOL
Wisk Aero, a subsidiary of Boeing, has acquired Verocel, a software verification and validation company that’s been serving the aerospace industry for 25 years.?Wisk has an autonomous-first approach to electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. The company’s Generation 6 aircraft, slated to begin airborne tests this year, is designed to be supervised by humans, but not physically flown by them.?
That means, perhaps more than other companies building eVTOL vehicles, Wisk needs to ensure its software is up to snuff. Wisk will absorb the Verocel team, numbering about 60 people, who bring deep expertise in DO-178C, a standard that provides guidelines for developing safety-critical software for airborne systems.?
6/25/24 Private equity firm Altaris plans to take Sharecare private in $518M acquisition deal
Digital health company Sharecare has agreed to be acquired by private equity firm Altaris for $1.43 in cash per share, or about $518 million. The merger consideration of $1.43 per share represents a premium of approximately 85% over the closing price of Sharecare on June 20, 2024. Altaris plans to take Sharecare private once the deal is finalized.
Altaris is an investment firm exclusively focused on the healthcare industry. The company was founded in 2010 by Jeff Arnold, founder of WebMD, and Dr. Mehmet Oz. Sharecare provides a comprehensive and data-driven virtual health platform designed to help people manage all their health in one place.
6/25/24 JFrog Acquires Qwak to Meld MLOps and DevOps Workflows
JFrog today revealed it has acquired Qwak to add a machine learning operations (MLOps) platform to its existing portfolio of DevOps tools and platforms. Data science teams typically rely on an MLOps platform to manage the workflows used to build and deploy an artificial intelligence (AI) model and JFrog has already integrated its core DevOps platform with the MLOPs platform created by Qwak.
JFrog CTO Yoav Landman said it’s now only a matter of time before MLOps and DevOps processes converge, as more applications are infused with AI models. The acquisition of Qwak gives JFrog a mature MLOps platform that, for example, provides versioning and immutability capabilities needed to advance that convergence, he added.
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6/25/24 Safran enters talks to acquire geospatial AI start-up Preligens
Safran, primarily a manufacturer of aircraft parts, has made a move within France’s defence industry to acquire Preligens – a leading geospatial artificial intelligence (AI) start-up established in 2016. Exclusive discussions have launched with both parties stipulating an enterprise valuation worth €220m ($236m). The Parisian company accrued $30m in 2023 sales alone, and employs 220 employees, including 140 engineers in research and development.
The transaction will be subject to the usual regulatory approvals, as well as the information and consultation of Preligens’ employee representatives. The deal is due to close in Q3 2024.
6/24/24 Nuqleous acquires TR3 Solutions to extend retail analytics tools
The big-data startup Nuqleous has acquired TR3 Solutions, a provider of retail and supply chain analytics tools, saying their combined platforms will help provide better retail analytics solutions for consumer packaged goods (CPG) suppliers. The acquisition expands Bentonville, Arkansas-based Nuqleous's platform connections to over 100 retailers, broadens its suite of analytics solutions, and extends its reach to markets including North America and Europe.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. TR3 says its data management and integration capabilities streamline replenishment and optimize shipping, reducing the time spent on data compilation. That supports supporting various business functions like replenishment, logistics, sales, marketing, e-commerce, and category management, the Massachusetts firm said.
6/24/24 OpenAI buys database analytics firm Rockset in nine-figure stock deal, sources say
Microsoft-backed, OpenAI has acquired search and database analytics startup Rockset to provide better infrastructure for its enterprise products, the ChatGPT maker said on Friday. The companies did not disclose the deal size. OpenAI used its shares to buy the company in a stock deal that valued Rockset at a few hundred millions, marking it one of its largest acquisitions by the fast rising AI lab, according to sources familiar with the matter.
OpenAI declined to comment on deal details. The company was last valued at $86 billion in a tender offer by investors earlier this year. Rockset, founded by former engineers at Meta builds real-time search and analytics databases, and has benefited from the use of artificial intelligence in applications from chatbots and detecting anomalies. Backed by Greylock, Sequoia and Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE.N), opens new tab venture capital arm, Rockset said last year it had raised $105 million in total funding.
6/21/24 Squarespace sells restaurant reservation system Tock to American Express for $400M
Website building platform Squarespace is selling Tock, its restaurant reservation service, to American Express in a deal worth $400 million — the exact figure that Squarespace paid for the service three years ago. Separately, AmEx will be buying Rooam, a mobile payments and ordering platform that integrates with point-of-sale systems. Terms of the Rooam deal were not disclosed.
The news comes a month after private equity giant Permira announced plans to acquire Squarespace and take it private in a deal worth $6.9 billion. That transaction is expected to close in Q4 2024.Founded in 2014, Tock targets the hospitality industry with reservation and event management tools, with a particular focus on restaurants looking to integrate table management and booking services, or sell tickets for special events such as wine tastings.
6/20/24 Nextracker acquires solar foundations manufactuerer Ojjo
Nextracker, a global solar tracker and software solutions provider, has acquired Ojjo for approximately $119 million. Ojjo is a U.S.-based renewable energy company specializing in foundation technology and services used in utility-scale ground-mount applications for solar power generation.
By merging the services, Nextracker hopes to offer solar EPCs and developers more choices for foundations that are designed to perform in various soil conditions. Ojjo foundations can be installed without pre-drilling land and potentially reduces subsurface risks of solar installations.
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