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Nothing says a healthy ecosystem like successful mergers, acquisitions and exits. And we saw a number of them in Atlanta this year.
The West Coast might see early exits as "selling out," but in Atlanta, an exit for a lot of our entrepreneurs means success, a power up and even a chance to start working on that next venture.
Each month, we’ve included a wrap-up of all the merger and acquisitions announcements in the community and mentioned the top three deals we believe to be the most important in the Beat.
Check out the year’s top exits below.
December
Coming soon…We will add the top three mergers and acquisitions after completing the list of all announcements for the month at the close of December.
November
- Silicon Valley-based private equity firm Silver Lake acquired Atlanta-based First Advantage, a global background check and drug screening company. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Symphony Technology Group sold First Advantage to Silver Lake. The transaction is set to complete by the first quarter of 2020. Senior management at First Advantage will keep their current roles. The company has offices in 27 locations and more than 4.3K employees.
- Atlanta-based sales SaaS giant SalesLoft acquired Costello, an Indianapolis-based sales assistant software company. According to a news release, the acquisition will help SalesLoft serve revenue professionals of all levels, including sales development reps, account executives and sales leaders. In 2018, Costello raised $2M in a seed round from M25, Elevate Ventures and Dundee VC.
- Elavon, an Atlanta-based payments processor, acquired Sage Pay, a United Kingdom-based payments processor, for $300M. According to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, the acquisitions will help Elavon’s parent company U.S. Bancorp extend its market in the U.K. and Ireland. In 2018, Sage Pay reportedly had a revenue of $53M and operating profit of $19M. Sage Pay acquired its first Atlanta company, Peachtree Software, in 1999 and entered the U.S. market. The acquisition, payable in cash, comes out to about £232M or $300.6M.
October
- Areu Bros. Studio, an Atlanta-based entertainment studio, acquired THEA, a local video-streaming platform, from the Metro Atlanta Chamber. Areu Bros., the first major Latino owned and operated media studio in the country run by brothers Ozzie and Will Areu, took ownership of the platform and shifted its focus to a new media services company. According to MAC, THEA will still help discover and create local content while also forging a relationship with Areu Bros. and Georgia talent. With the acquisition, the Areu Bros. plan to scale the platform and prepare THEA for commercial viability. The studio will expand THEA’s content, identify a system of monetization that benefits both THEA and its content partners and broaden distribution.
- TPG Capital completed its $500K purchase of Alpharetta-based CollabNet, a dev-ops SaaS company, from Vector Capital, according to Axios. TPG Capital will integrate CollabNet’s platform to cater to companies’ software needs.
- AHEAD, a Chicago tech company that helps companies modernize their digital business infrastructure, announced that it is merging with Data Blue, an Atlanta company that, like AHEAD, helps companies with digital transformations. The combined businesses are also acquiring Sovereign Systems, a smaller tech company also out of Atlanta. The combined company will generate $1.3B in gross revenues and have around 600 employees, AHEAD CEO and founder Daniel Adamany said in an interview with Chicago Inno.
September
- TPG Capital, a San Francisco-based VC firm, agreed to acquire Alpharetta-based dev-ops firm CollabNet for $500M from Vector Capital. According to Fortune, TPG Capital will integrate CollabNet’s platform to cater to companies’ software needs.
- Delta Air Lines announced a partnership with Georgia Tech and Curiosity Lab in August to invest in autonomous vehicle research. According to the AJC, the Atlanta airliner is looking into the use of autonomous cars, trucks and buses at airports. The seed funding will go towards research on the 1.5-mile autonomous vehicle test track in Peachtree Corners.
- Opendoor, an online real estate marketplace, acquired OS National, LLC, an Atlanta-based title and escrow company that has been one of Opendoor’s partners since 2016. OSN joined Opendoor as a wholly-owned subsidiary, according to a news release. The acquisition allowed Opendoor to integrate title, escrow and closings into its online buying and selling platform.
August
- Stack Sports, a global provider of sports technology, acquired Affinity Sports and Blue Sombrero from DICK’S Sporting Goods. Blue Sombrero is an Atlanta-based website provider for registration and league management tools for youth sports teams. PE Hub Network reports the price of both acquisitions was $45M. Stack Sports will combine Affinity Sports and Blue Sombrero under one organization, according to a news release.
- Endavo Media and Communications, Inc., an Atlanta-based OTT video distribution software company, was acquired by Ozzie Areu, the founder and CEO of Areu Bros. Studios in Atlanta. Areu is a former president of Tyler Perry Studios in Atlanta. He said Endavo provides a “revolutionary platform” for video content distribution, and has immediate plans to develop multiple initiatives in the areas of content development and distribution. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
- Bitcoin Depot, an Atlanta-based cryptocurrency ATM network, acquired its Texas-based competitor DFW Bitcoin. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Bitcoin Depot is a large operator of multi-cryptocurrency ATMs which allow users to buy and sell Bitcoin, Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin Cash instantly at hundreds of locations across the country. The network currently operates nearly 300 Bitcoin ATMs in the nation and expects to have over 1,000 Bitcoin ATMs deployed by the end of 2020.
July
- A majority stake of Waystar, a Duluth-based provider of revenue cycle software, was purchased from Bain Capital. EQT Partners and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board agreed to acquire equity in the company, which brings Waystar’s enterprise value to $2.7B.
- Hodges-Mace, an Atlanta-based employee benefits and custom enrollment services company, was acquired by Alight Solutions, a Lincolnshire, Ill.-based business process outsourcing company with a focus on health, wealth, human resources and finance. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Thanks to the acquisition, Alight will use Hodges-Mace’s tech to further meet the needs of employers, including employers smaller than what Alight has traditionally served. The company will also utilize Hodges-Mace’s partnerships with consultants, brokers and carriers to grow its health and voluntary benefits tech.
- Optima Healthcare Solutions, an Alpharetta-based cloud-focused medical record software company, was acquired by Net Health, a Pittsburgh-based provider of software solutions for outpatient care. The combined company will focus on serving multiple specialized clinical settings throughout a patient’s journey—from the hospital to the patient’s home. The acquisition will help Net Health expand its medical record platform and serve patients in more than 14K facilities.
June
- Parallel, Atlanta’s medical marijuana startup previously known as Surterra Wellness, acquired a Massachusetts cannabis company with dispensaries in Brookline and Northampton. The company, New England Treatment Access, also has a cultivation facility in Franklin that received state approval just before the deal was complete. The deal combined NETA’s 700 employees with Parallel's 800 employees. With NETA’s two dispensaries, Parallel now has close to 30 dispensaries in Florida, Texas, Massachusetts and Nevada.
- Sparkfly, an Atlanta-based adtech company, scored a major partnership with fast-casual restaurant chain Chipotle to run its loyalty program and digital customer experience. Sparkfly will use its technology to run Chipotle’s in-app ad campaigns, rewards program, tech intelligence in the stores and online ordering. The company originally partnered with Chipotle in 2017, where it began implementing a promotions management platform. This partnership is not only a win for Sparkfly, but a win for the community, because it means major corporations are continuing to invest in our tech services and products.
- Vyne, a Dunwoody-based health care communication platform, was acquired by The Jordan Company, L.P., a private equity firm in New York. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The acquisition will help Vyne provide health care technology and support to hospitals, health systems and dental offices across the country, according to a news release. The company was acquired from private equity firm Accel-KKR. With support from The Jordan Company, Vyne plans to expand on its current platforms.
May
- Atlanta-based Global Payments, a payment provider and software solutions company, has agreed to merge with Columbus, Ga.-based TSYS, another payments provider, in a $21.5B all-stock merger of equals. The company said the merger will allow the combined businesses to provide payments and software solutions to 3.5M small and medium-sized merchant locations and more than 1.3K financial institutions in more than 100 countries.
- Salesfusion, an Atlanta-based provider of marketing automation solutions, was acquired by SugarCRM, an Accel-KKR-backed company. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Prior to the acquisition, Salesfusion raised a total of $32M in funding, according to Crunchbase.
- PureCars, an Atlanta-based digital advertising platform for the automotive industry, was acquired by Diversis Capital LLC and Stage 1 Ventures. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, however, the acquisition was part of a spinout from Raycom Media as a result of their merger with Gray Television, according to a news release. In 2015, the company was acquired by Raycom Media for $125M — making it one of the largest automotive technology acquisitions at the time.
April
- Atlanta-based Montra Solutions, a software-enabled managed services provider that delivers cloud, security and infrastructure solutions, has acquired another local company, Midtown Technology Partners, a provider of managed IT services.
- BrightWave, an Atlanta-based email marketing and electronic customer relationship management agency, has been acquired by St. Louis-based marketing agency Ansira Partners Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 2003, BrightWave reported about $4.5M in revenue through June last year, after having grown to $7.23M in revenue in 2017.
- Duluth-based United Technology Group, a provider of co-management tech services, has been acquired by Coretelligent, a portfolio company of VSS, according to Fortune’s newsletter Term Sheet. Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.
March
- Atlanta-based payments technology company InComm acquired Linq3 Technologies, a local tech company that designs, builds and markets products and solutions for traditional and digital lottery gameplay. Linq3 was founded in 2007 and uses smart systems integrations, technologies and customer products to transform the lottery industry. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. We love seeing Atlanta companies help successful exits with other Atlanta companies, so shouts out for this news.
- Digitel Corp., a cloud computing and business phone solutions tech company based in Atlanta, was acquired by NXTsoft, a Birmingham-based cybersecurity and data company. According to the Birmingham Business Journal, the acquisition will garner NXTsoft an additional $6M in revenue and 32 employees. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
- Securly, a San Jose, Calif. student safety company, acquired Atlanta-based TechPilot Labs, a provider of K-12 education tech founded in 2012 that serves hundreds of school districts across four continents with mobile device management and classroom tech management products. According to a news release, the addition of TechPilot Labs’ products and customers will help the company grow its services and offerings to schools. This includes administering the network and deployment of devices, determining what’s on devices and make sure they’re used for educational purposes, providing visibility into usage and engagement and identifying unsafe behavior.
February
- Mailchimp, an Atlanta-based marketing platform for small business, acquired local startup Sawa, an automated graphic design platform. Founded in 2017, Sawa received small amounts of funding from local accelerators and bootstrapped the rest of its funding. Sawa’s founder and sole employee, Francis Tao, will join the Mailchimp team as a senior product manager to integrate Sawa’s technology into their platform.
- Pensare, an Atlanta-based holding company that went public 18 months ago, agreed to acquire Los Angeles-based TPx Communications, a provider of unified communications and cloud-focused managed IT services. According to a news release, the combined company’s enterprise value will be $1.1B. Once the transaction is complete, Pensare will change its name to TPx Corp.
- IDology, a provider of ID verification and fraud protection services, was acquired by U.K.-based GBG, an Identity Data Intelligence specialist, for $300M in an all-cash transaction. According to a news release, the entire senior management team and base of IDology will join GBG. IDology specializes in helping onboard customers while defending against fraud.
January
- Fiserv, a Brookfield, Wisc., payments provider, merged with Atlanta’s biggest payments provider, First Data, in a $22B all-stock deal to create one fintech entity worth $4B. The merger was approved by both companies’ boards of directors, and the combined company will be called Fiserv.
- EarthLink, an IT security firm based in Little Rock, Ark., established its headquarters in Atlanta once more after a $330M deal was approved with Trive Capital, a Dallas, Texas-based private equity firm. EarthLink was acquired for $330M in cash from Windstream Holdings Inc. The holdings company merged with EarthLink in 2016 in a $1.1B deal. The acquisition includes the assets of nQue Technologies LLC and EarthLink’s Midtown Atlanta office building, which will serve as the company’s headquarters once more.
- Deltek, a Virginia-based software and solutions provider for project-based businesses, acquired Avitru, an Atlanta-based construction specification content and software provider backed by Alpine Investors. The companies hope to provide solutions and services to architects, engineers, contractors, owners and building product manufacturers, according to a news release.
