Acquisitions
If any Australian-founded company embodies the lean startup mentality it would be WPCurve, launched in June 2013 after two other failed startup attempts.
Although intent for an acquisition was announced last week, in the last 72 hours it was formally announced that Stamps.com® (NASDAQ: STMP) will be acquiring Austin, Texas based shipping software company ShippingEasy for US$55 million in cash.
It was announced yesterday that customer experience focused startup Flamingo, founded by high-profile entrepreneur Dr Catriona Wallace, was acquired by ASX listed technology and software development company Cre8tek.
Customer experience software company Qualtrics today announced that it would be acquiring Y Combinator-funded startup Statwing for an undisclosed sum. Statwing is a San Francisco based startup that makes data science easy for anyone.
It has been another busy week for deals across the global startup landscape. IBM has acquired live streaming platfrom UStream, while the parent company of satirical news site The Onion sold a 40 percent stake to a Spanish broadcaster for $200 million.
It’s been a busy week across the global startup landscape, with a number of companies raising capital. Scottish travel platform SkyScanner has raised $192 million and become one of the latest startups to achieve unicorn status in the process, while Indian car sales platform CarTrade raised $145 million. In acquisitions news, Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech acquired a 60 percent stake in Grindr for $93 million. Closer to home, Microsoft acquired tech assets from Brisbane company Event Zero to bolster its Skype for Business offering, while CapitalPitch closed a $600,000 seed round.
Microsoft has acquired technology assets from Brisbane startup Event Zero in order to boost the capabilities of its Skype for Business product. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Despite it being only the first week of January, it has been a busy week around the startup world. Intel has acquired Ascending Technologies, while Activision Blizzard has acquired Major League Gaming to bolster its live streaming offering. Meanwhile, airport car rental startup Silvercar has raised $28 million in a Series C round led by Audi, and restaurant POS startup Toast has raised $30 million.
In today’s funding and acquisitions round up, the last of 2015, Buffer has acquired Respondly, Yahoo Japan has launched a bid to buy travel website Ikyu for $828 million, Digital Guardian has raised $66 million, and Indian home services startup Housejoy has raised $23 million in a round led by Amazon. Closer to home, VentureCrowd closed a $2 million round, while ERM Power acquired sustainability monitoring software provider Greensense.
It’s been a very busy week for Australian startups – Shoes of Prey raised a US$15.5 million Series B round, Booodl raised $2.85 million, Sherpa raised $1.2 million, PlanDo raised $916,000, InHouse Group raised $900,000, and Recomazing raised $660,000. Elsewhere, IBM acquired cloud-based video service provider Clearleap, while Airbnb confirmed its $1.5 billion raise.
One of the biggest stories in a busy week across the startup space came from Australia, with fintech startup Tyro Payments announcing that it had raised $100 million in funding from Tiger Global, TDM Asset Management, and Mike Cannon-Brookes. In other news, Israeli marketing company Perion acquired New York-based digital ad startup Undertone for $180 million, AppDynamics raised $158 million, and healthcare CRM platform Evariant raised $42.3 million.
It has been another busy week across the global startup space, with Pandora announcing that it is to acquire Rdio for $75 million, India’s Uber rival Ola raising $500 million, and US fintech startup Earnest raising $275 million in debt and equity financing. Closer to home, online lender zipMoney secured a $100 million debt facility and $1 million in funding, while ShopandBox raised a $1 million seed round.
It has been another busy week around the global startup space. In Europe, Rocket Internet’s home interiors marketplace Home24 has acquired German competitor Fashion For Home, while Udacity has raised $105 million in a Series D round at a valuation of $1 billion and ClassPass has raised $30 million. Closer to home, Australian visual arts marketplace Bluethumb has raised $500,000 from the founders of AussieCommerce.
Another busy week across the global startup world has seen gaming giant Activision Blizzard announce that it is set to acquire King Digital Entertainment, the makers of Candy Crush, for $5.9 billion, while Expedia is to acquire Airbnb competitor HomeAway for $3.9 billion. Closer to home, Shoeboxed Australia has raised $775,000 in angel funding, while invoice2go raised a $15 million Series C round.
LawPath raises $1.3 million; Cisco to acquire Lancope for $452.5 million; Alteryx raises $85 million
Another big week has seen Cisco announce its intents to acquire Lancope for $452.5 million, and IBM announce that it will be acquiring The Weather Company’s tech and product business. Advanced analytics startup Alteryx has raised $85 million, while payment services startup Marqeta has raised $25 million in a Series C round. Closer to home, LawPath raised $1.3 million, while Australian-founded startup Apptuto raised $500,000 in angel funding.
