Financial deals, mergers and acquisitions in the tech ecosystem are mentioned daily in the Atlanta Inno Beat newsletter, along with insights on how personnel moves may impact a startup’s future. Sign up for the Beat to get it each day in your inbox.
Check out the most important mergers, acquisitions and investments from Atlanta technology companies from March 2020. Did we miss a deal? Let me know at mhogan@americaninno.com.
EVO Payments, Inc., an Atlanta-based payment technology and services provider, received a $150M investment. The funds are affiliated with Madison Dearborn Partners, a private equity firm. A portion of the funding will be used to pay down EVO’s revolver borrowings. The rest of the funding will be used to fuel future investment opportunities.
Demand Driven Technologies, an Atlanta-based software startup that offers inventory management and supply chain planning solutions for manufacturers and distributors, raised an additional $3.6M in Series Seed 2 funding. The round was led by Shawn Welch of Midtown Capital Advisors. Previous investors Mosley Ventures, along with Alerion Ventures and other existing investors also participated. The company’s software is based in the cloud and serves as a provider of a new method called Demand Driven MRP, which allows companies to pace their materials to actual demand in the market versus using forecasts.
A Stockholm- and Atlanta-based maker of cloud communication for mobile customer engagement acquired a Latin American company. According to Term Sheet, Sinch agreed to acquire Wavy, a Brazil-based provider of business messaging in Latin America. The deal is worth $119M of cash and stock. Movile Group participated in the deal as the seller.
Sonar Software, an Atlanta-based startup that helps customers manage CRM changes, raised more than $1.6M in funding, according to a filing with the SEC. Sonar helps clients navigate their tech stack with automations and integrations of their CRM, according to the company’s website.
St. Louis-based Perficient, a digital consultancy, acquired Brainjocks, an Atlanta-based digital consultancy with a focus on building customer experiences and content management systems for enterprise partners on the Sitecore platform. According to a news release, Brainjocks President and CEO Brian Beckham joins Perficient in a key leadership role. Perficient also most recently acquired Atlanta-based companies Bluetube and Northridge Systems.
Bakkt, a cryptocurrency exchange and liquidity provider created by the New York Stock Exchange’s parent company Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), raised $300M in a Series B round. It included several notable investors: Microsoft’s M12, PayU, Boston Consulting Group, Goldfinch Partners, CMT Digital, Pantera Capital and Intercontinental Exchange. The announcement of the funding was made by newly appointed Bakkt CEO Mike Blandina in a Medium blog post. In addition to the funding, Blandina announced Bakkt plans to launch its cryptocurrency exchange app in the summer. The news comes on the tail end of the announcement that ICE had acquired Alpharetta-based Bridge2 Solutions, a provider of loyalty solutions for merchants and consumers. Following the completion of the transaction, Bakkt acquired Bridge2 Solutions from ICE using proceeds from Bakkt’s Series B round of funding.
Xalles, a fintech holding company, acquired MinervaWorks, an Atlanta-based tech company that helps clients keep their platform updated. According to a news release, the transaction was expected to complete by March 31. MinervaWorks founder and President Rodney Bowers will continue in his role during a three-year transition period. Xalles Holdings will acquire the common shares of MinervaWorks, which wholly owns two subsidiaries, Minerva Automation, Inc. and MinervaWorks, LLC.
Atlanta-based ZeeZor, a real-time analytics and staff engagement platform for salons and spas, was acquired by Mindbody, Inc., a San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based technology platform for the wellness industry. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Atlanta-based patient engagement company Eruptr acquired HealthAware, a Denver-based provider of health risk assessment and patient engagement solutions. Erupt is backed by H.I.G. Growth Partners. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Atlanta-based Riskonnect, an integrated risk management provider, acquired Xactium, a U.K.-based governance, risk and compliance company. According to a news release, the acquisition will allow Riskonnect to continue expanding in risk management with new AI capabilities. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Mona Labs, an Atlanta-based AI software startup, raised $2M of a $3M round, according to a filing with the SEC. The funding was collected from two investors.
WorldWatch Plus, a Kennesaw-based fraud detection startup, secured a $2.9M Series A funding round led by Naples Technology Ventures with participation from early backers and angel investors. WorldWatch Plus, founded in 2007, has developed AI and natural language processing that monitors and analyzes risk information from a variety of sources across multiple languages. Its platform identifies people and companies that could be a concern based on each client’s risk tolerance. It works with clients in banking, cryptocurrency, corporate compliance and background screening.
Aptean, an Atlanta-based global provider of software solutions, acquired U.K.-based supply chain company Paragon. Paragon provides transportation management SaaS solutions in the food beverage, distribution and retail industries. This acquisition will help Aptean expand its footprint in the European market, according to a news release.
Atlanta-based Lume, a provider of cloud and data center services, raised $4.3M in a round led by BaseCamp Capital. The round was joined by John Schanz, former EVP and chief network officer at Comcast; Joe Wetzel, former Earthlink president and COO; Mark Mendes, former senior executive at Cisco/BroadSoft; and Octavio Morales, founder of TierPoint, who joined the board of directors at Lume. Lume will use the funds to expand and bring its Cloud Anyware platform and edge data center solutions to new markets and customers, according to a news release. Cloud Anyware lets customers mix and match public and private cloud services for each application and choose the edge data center location where the environment is deployed and managed.
Gather, an Atlanta-based company that sells event management software to restaurants, will merge with Tripleseat, a Concord, Mass.-based sales and event management platform for restaurants and hotels. Tripleseat was recently acquired by Austin-based private equity firm Vista Equity Partners. Gather is a portfolio company of Vista Equity Partners.
Dematic, an Atlanta-based global intralogistics innovator, acquired a U.K.-based software company that specializes in logistics automation, Digital Applications International Limited. The acquisition was completed by Dematic’s parent company, KION GROUP AG, on behalf of Dematic. The deal was around $133M. It is the largest investment KION has made since acquiring Dematic in 2016, according to a news release.
VoiceNation, a Buford-based bilingual live-answering provider, and Ninja Number, a Burfod-based phone app that provides a virtual phone system for entrepreneurs, were both acquired by Moneypenny, a U.K.-based provider of web chat, answering services and outsourced switchboards for small and large businesses. VoiceNation and Ninja Number will aid Moneypenny by growing its U.S. presence, according to a news release. The 160 combined employees of VoiceNation and Ninja Number will join Moneypenny’s 60 person U.S. staff based in Charleston and the 700+ U.K. team. Both companies will continue to operate as stand-alone brands in the U.S. market.
