Takeovers and Buyouts
The latest deal news from across the alternative investment space.
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Bullish, the rapidly growing institutional digital assets exchange led by Tom Farley, has acquired CoinDesk, a prominent media, events, and index platform focused on crypto assets, from Digital Currency Group (DGC). The acquisition aims to support CoinDesk’s global expansion and the growth of its various businesses. However, the financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
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More Stories on Takeovers and Buyouts
Venture Capital: Norway-based Urban Planning Startup Spacemaker Acquired For $240M
Autodesk (NASDAQ: ADSK), a company that makes software for the engineering and design industries, has acquired Spacemaker, a startup developing cloud-based AI software, empowering users to collaborate, analyze and design real estate sites, and urban planners to envision cities.
Artificial Intelligence: An IPO, And An Acquisition
C3.ai, the software company launched by former Oracle executive Tom Siebel, filed papers for an IPO sized $100 million. The company intends to list on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol AI. Snap Inc (NYSE: SNAP) acquired Israeli voice assistant solutions startup Voca.ai for about $70 million.
Venture Capital: A Big Fundraise, And An Acquisition, In Cybersecurity
SentinelOne announced Wednesday its Series F raise of $267 million in a round led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from Sequoia Capital Global Equities and existing investors including Insight Partners and Third Point Ventures. The same day, Palo Alto Networks (NYSE: PANW) announced its agreement to acquire Expanse Inc for approximately $ 800 million.
FinTech: BSM Company Coupa Acquires AI-Powered Supply Chain Company Llamasoft For $1.5B
Coupa Software (NASDAQ: COUP) announced Monday its acquisition of Llamasoft, a supply chain software company for $1.5 billion. Llamasoft’s AI-powered, cloud platform helps companies make better informed and faster crucial supply chain decisions.
FinTech: NerdWallet Buys Fundera To Reach Small And Medium Businesses
Financial guidance app Nerdwallet announced Friday its acquisition of Fundera, which provides financial advice and comparisons to nearly 28 million small and medium-sized businesses in the U.S. Terms were not disclosed, except that Fundera will become a Nerdwallet subsidiary. All of Fundera’s employees will join Nerdwallet.
Venture Capital: Nestle USA Acquires Meal Delivery Startup Freshly For Potentially $1.5B
Nestle USA, which is ultimately owned by Nestle SA (SWX: NESN), on Friday, signed and closed its acquisition of Freshly, a startup that provides healthy, freshly prepared, and chef-cooked meals that are heat-and-eat in three minutes or less. Freshly’s pioneering direct-to-consumer service is subscription-based in the range of $45.96 to $101.88 per week. Nestle will pay $ 950 million for the purchase, and potentially another $550 million depending upon Freshly’s growth in the future.
Artificial Intelligence: Air Street Capital’s New Fund; Intel’s Snaps Up AI Startup SigOpt
London-based Air Street Capital announced Friday its close of a $17 million fund to back early-stage “AI-native” startups. The venture firm positions itself too as an AI-native investor – because “generalism is dead” and its team of Operating Partners combines AI expertise with deep sector-specific knowledge.
FinTech: Alliance Data Buys BNPL Fintech Bread For $450M
Alliance Data Systems (NYSE: ADS) said Thursday that it will acquire Bread and its digital platform for $450 million of which $100 will be paid through Alliance stock. The transaction would expand Alliance Data’s own digital offerings by including buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) products.
FinTech: Stripe Buys Nigerian Payments Processor Paystack For $200M
Stripe, the fintech and payments processing giant last valued at $36 billion, has snapped up Paystack, the Nigeria-based international payments processor for a reported $200 million.
Venture Capital: Crowdfunding Peers Crowdcube And Seedrs To Merge
Crowdcube and Seedrs, the competing leaders in the UK crowdfunding market, have joined forces.
FinTech: Tech Giant Yandex To Acquire Pole Position In Russia’s Fintech Industry
Investors made a bee-line for the stock of Russian technology giant Yandex (NASDAQ: YNDX) after it bid Tuesday for Tinkoff, a leading online bank in the country. Yandex shares touched a record high after analysts and investors apparently thought it was a marriage made in heaven.
Venture Capital: Nvidia To Acquire Arm Holdings From SoftBank In $40B Deal
Nvidia (NASDAQ: NVDA) has agreed to acquire Arm Limited from SoftBank Group Corp. (TYO: 9984) and the SoftBank Vision Fund in a $40 billion transaction.
Digital Assets: Nasdaq-Listed Cryptominer Marathon Acquires Fastblock Mining For $22M
Marathon Patent Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: MARA) will acquire Fastblock Mining for approximately $22 million in an all-stock deal. Marathon will issue 8,658,009 shares to Fastblock, a mining-as-a-service company, in a private placement transaction. Marathon shares closed Wednesday at $2.54.
Digital Assets: Crypto Exchange FTX Snaps Up Portfolio Tracker Blockfolio for $150M
FTX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange that offers spot and futures trading on various cryptocurrencies, the world’s first liquid cryptocurrency index future, futures that settle to the absolute change in the price of a coin over time, options, leveraged tokens, and other such innovative crypto products. The institutional-focused exchange acquired Blockfolio, a portfolio tracker that supports over 10,000 cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets across 500+ exchanges.
FinTech: Global Payments Company WorldRemit Acquires Africa-Focused Sendwave
WorldRemit, a cross-border and worldwide payments processor, announced Tuesday its acquisition of Sendwave, an app-based remittance company that focuses on recipients in Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal and East Africa.
FinTech: Thomson Reuters Acquires Virtual Courts Platform CaseLines
Thomson Reuters (NYSE: TRI) has acquired CaseLines, a digitized, cloud-based judicial platform that manages evidence, court documents, and virtual hearings.
FinTech: Intuit-Credit Karma Deal Under DOJ Lens (ProPublica)
According to ProPublica, a non-profit newsroom that investigates abuse of power, the US Justice Department will investigate Intuit Inc (NASDAQ: INTU)’s $7.1 billion acquisition of Credit Karma announced in February. Intuit is an American business and financial software company that develops and sells financial, accounting, and tax preparation software. It has a market capitalization of $81 billion. Credit Karma is a fintech that launched a free tax return service that became a formidable rival to Intuit.
FinTech: Credit Sesame Acquires Canadian Neo Bank STACK After Resounding Success of Sesame Cash
In late 2019, Credit Sesame and Canadian challenger bank STACK joined hands to offer Sesame Cash, a checking account service that put users in control of their banking and credit in one place. Since mid-May, when Sesame Cash became available to the general public, more than 200,000 customers signed up in less than a month. Over 62% of Credit Sesame’s 15 million members are interested in the Sesame Cash service. Credit Sesame announced Tuesday its acquisition of STACK.
FinTech: Western Union Is Looking to Acquire MoneyGram International
A Bloomberg report says Western Union has made a takeover offer for MoneyGram.
If the transaction succeeds, the two biggest players in the money transfer business in the US would combine. However, the matter is not yet officially public, and Bloomberg quoted a person who asked not to be identified.
Private Equity: Apollo Buys Stake in Albertsons Companies
Apollo Global Management (NYSE: APO) announced certain affiliate-led funds drove the purchase of $1.75 billion of convertible preferred stock in Albertsons Companies. The target is one of the largest food and drug retailers in the United States. The investment will represent approximately 17.5% pro forma equity ownership of Albertsons on an as-converted basis.
Liquid Alternatives: The Uber Vs. Grubhub Food Delivery War – ETFs to Profit
The Wall Street Journal revealed Tuesday that Uber (NYSE: UBER) is pursuing a takeover of food delivery service Grubhub (NYSE: GRUB) in an all-stock deal. In fact, talks started earlier this year, and according to Bloomberg, the deal could be consummated as early as this month. If successful, Uber’s play for Grubhub would be a gamechanger for the food delivery sector.
FinTech: Cash-rich Revolut on the Prowl for COVID-hit Travel Aggregators
Nikolay Storonsky, chief executive of British challenger bank and fintech unicorn Revolut, says his company has “a real opportunity” to benefit from the pandemic. Speaking to the Financial Times, he revealed plans to use his cash hoard to buy corona-strapped, tech rivals.
Venture Capital: Accel Gets Sweet 4X Returns on $1.2B Galileo Exit
It’s the third big one in the fintech space within a space of barely four months. In January, Visa (NYSE: V) acquired Plaid for $5.3 billion, followed by Intuit (NASDAQ: INTU) paying $7.1 billion for Credit Karma in February. In the current deal, personal finance company SoFi is buying up Galileo, a Utah-based financial services API and payments platform, for $1.2 billion in cash and stock. Accel, an investor in Galileo, has reportedly romped home with 4X returns.
FinTech: Aussie Telco Software Company ZipTel Acquires Financial Wellness Company Douugh Ltd
Ziptel Ltd (ASX: ZIP), an Australian owned and operated telecommunications business that provides international roaming and calling solutions, is changing its business model. It is acquiring the entire share capital of Douugh Ltd, a fintech that helps people achieve financial wellness. On completion of the acquisition, ZipTel’s name would change to ASX: DOU. In this new avatar, ZipTel would become a financial software and services company.