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Check out the most important mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and investments from Atlanta technology companies from December 2018. Did we miss a deal? Let me know at mhogan@americaninno.com.
Brightstar New Development Services, a real estate brokerage based in Atlanta, merged with Atlanta real estate startup Compass Inc., to form Brightstar New Development Services at Compass, an innovative real estate brokerage firm that brings technology-focused target marketing to sell single family homes, condos and other properties, according to a news release. Compass originated in New York and has raised about $800 million in VC funding.
CRH Healthcare, an Atlanta-based urgent care platform, was recapitalized by Freeman Spogli & Co., according to Term Sheet. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
KORE Wireless Group, an Alpharetta-based IoT service provider, acquired Netherlands-based partner Aspider-NGI. The acquisition will help KORE offer embedded SIM card solutions for its clients, strengthen its ties in Europe and expand to other areas around the world, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Cincinnati-based startup The Mom Project, a business that connects mothers to career opportunities, raised $8 million in Series A funding round led by Grotech Ventures and Initialized Capital. Aspect Ventures, Atlanta Seed Company, Engage Ventures, OCA Ventures, BBG Ventures, IrishAngels and Wintrust Financial also joined the round.
Spelman College received the largest gift from living donors the school has ever seen. The HBCU received $30 million from Spelman trustee Ronda Stryker and her husband, William Johnston, which will be used for the school’s new Center for Innovation and the Arts. Stryker is the director of the Stryker Corp., a Fortune 500 medical technologies company based in Kalamazoo, Mich. She joined the board at Spelman in 1997.
Atlanta-based online gallery software provider ShootProof raised growth equity funding from Providence Strategic Growth, according to the company’s website.
Q2 Holdings, Inc., a provider of digital banking and lending solutions, acquired Atlanta-based Gro Solutions, a provider of account opening and digital sales and marketing solutions for financial institutions. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Walker & Company Brand Inc., an ethnic beauty startup that gave us Bevel, a grooming brand for men of color, and Form, a hair care brand for women of color, was acquired by The Procter & Gamble Co. and announced plans to move from Palo Alto to Atlanta. Tristan Walker, founder and CEO of Walker & Company Brand, said he and his 15-person company would move to Atlanta to be closer to its largest customer base. Though terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, Walker has raised about $38 million in funding since starting the business five years ago.
Women Who Code, a nonprofit organization that helps women in tech, partnered with The Home Depot to develop initiatives that support the growth of women engineers and technology leaders at a local and international level. The nonprofit recently opened its global headquarters in Atlanta thanks to support from The Home Depot. WWC was originally based in San Francisco.
AVOXI, an Atlanta-based communications provider to global contact centers, raised $10 million from Tampa, Fla. VC firm Ballast Point Ventures. David Wise, AVOXI founder and CEO, said the investment will be used to accelerate product development, sales and marketing at the company.
Revolution Microelectronics, an Asian aerospace tech company with a U.S. headquarters in Atlanta, raised $800,000 in a recent funding round, according to a filing with the SEC. Revolution operates its engineering and sales department in Atlanta.
A U.K.-based travel tech giant with a headquarters in Atlanta has announced it’s being acquired. Travelport Worldwide Limited was acquired by affiliates of Siris Capital Group LLC and Evergreen Coast Capital Corp. for $4.4 billion. Travelport’s Atlanta headquarters are close to SunTrust Park in Smyrna. The company develops IT for airliners. Read more at the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Atlanta-based Facilio, a provider of facility management software, raised $6.4 million in Series A funding. Tiger Global led the round, which also included former backer Accel.
Elavon, a global payments provider and subsidiary of U.S. Bancorp made a three-year commitment to help fuel the growth of fintech companies and support of entrepreneurs at ATDC, the state’s incubator. The amount of the investment was not disclosed. Elavon executives will also participate in the mentorship role at ATDC to teach entrepreneurs the ins-and-outs of fintech, covering topics such as software and applications integration to consultation and market strategies. Partnerships with sponsors and the entrepreneurs in the program, ATDC believes, are essentially for early-stage companies to acquire customers and work on business model development.
Voice security and authentication startup Pindrop closed a $90 million Series D round led by London-based Vitruvian Partners. Additional investors include Allegion Ventures, Cross Creek, Dimension Data, Singapore-based EDBI and Goldman Sachs, along with existing investors CapitalG, IVP, Andreessen Horowitz, GV (formerly Google Ventures) and Citi Ventures.
Advanced Incentive Management, an incentive management platform based in Duluth, raised $720,000, according to a recent filing with the SEC. Last year, the company raised $240,000 in funding, bringing its total raised to $960,000.
Atlanta’s BitPay is facilitating an initiative to allow businesses to pay their taxes in Bitcoin after partnering with Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel’s office. BitPay will serve as a third party cryptocurrency global payment processor, according to a press release.
