The consolidation streak is staying alive in D.C.'s tech ecosystem.
A lot of money changed hands in March – upwards of $130 million in local startup funding alone – but on the exit side of investments, a wide range of technology companies around the region are buying smaller competitors or getting gobbled up by industry giants.
Here are some of the biggest D.C.-area merger and acquisition deals from last month.
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D.C.-based real estate software company Aquicore absorbed analytics firm Entic for undisclosed terms as it looks to consolidate the property tech industry. Entic, backed by real estate giant Blackstone, makes an analytics platform that recommends ways to optimize utilities and facilities for commercial assets. Its analytics will move onto Aquicore’s platform, adding capabilities in utility-budget tracking and tenant-billing tools. It will also add Florida, Massachusetts and California offices to its footprint. The deal also marks Aquicore’s first foray into the hospitality market – part of an effort to become a complete-portfolio solution for the industry’s biggest players.
Tysons-based Phacil, a provider of software and cybersecurity services to federal clients, was acquired by Arlington neighbor By Light Professional IT Services. The deal, terms of which were undisclosed, is one link in a string of IT industry consolidation. By Light bought another similar company, Axom Technologies, about a year ago.
Baltimore-based Allovue swooped in to acquire Equiday, a local startup that helps districts plan how they disburse funds to schools. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Both companies offer financial software geared toward education, but from different angles. Allovue tracks and manages funds once budgets are set by districts, while Equiday helps districts decide how to disburse dollars to schools. In part to fund the deal, earlier this year Allovue raised $4 million in a Series A-2 round, bringing it to $13 million in total funding. D.C.-based Equiday, bootstrapped by a team of three in 2018, decided to be acquired instead of raising a seed funding round, the companies said in a joint statement.
Bethesda-based Euclid Technology, an association management software provider, was acquired by Alabama-based Fullsteam, a year-old holding company of Aquiline Capital Partners that buys software and payments businesses. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Founded in 1997, Euclid develops software for member services, content management and event management. CEO Charlie Vinal will remain with the company following the deal, which is Fullsteam’s first in the association management industry.
Richmond-based cryptocurrency startup Coin Savage acquired D.C.’s Vite.Money in an effort to add another vertical to its services. The deal closed in mid-February and terms were not disclosed. Vite launched less than two years ago and, like popular investment app Acorn, allows users to round up the cost of purchases and invest the difference in cryptocurrencies. The move marks a deliberate shift toward financial services for Coin Savage, which was founded in 2017 as a crypto news and analysis platform.
Herndon-based Tyto Athene, a government-focused systems integrator, absorbed Chester, Md.-based Island Information Technology Consultants for undisclosed terms in its first acquisition. IITC provides communication tech services to the intelligence community and other government agencies. Tyto Athene, a Black Box spinoff acquired last August by Arlington Capital Partners, said the deal will boost its position in the intelligence community and its multimedia capabilities.
Telecom giant Comcast acquired Arlington startup BluVector in an effort to grow the company's cybersecurity business and build new technologies. Terms were not disclosed. BluVector, a spinout of Northrop Grumman, uses AI and machine learning to provide cybersecurity protection to public and private customers. As the new CEO of BluVector, Comcast appointed Eric Malawer, who served as cybersecurity staff director for the House Committee on Homeland Security and founded three of his own AI and security companies – Echelon, NextGen Venture Partners and DeepMile Networks.
Publicly traded company ManTech International announced it will acquire Fairfax-based Kforce Government Solutions for $115 million in an effort to boost its federal civilian services portfolio. KGS provides IT staffing services for federal health and defense agencies, with customers primarily in the Department of Veteran Affairs, and it generated about $98 million in revenue last year. The deal adds more than 500 KGS employees, mostly based in Greater Washington and Austin, to ManTech's 7,800-strong workforce.
D.C.-based software startup Contactually was scooped up by real estate company Compass. The WBJ reports the acquisition is worth “mid-eight-figures,” and the startup’s 32 employees plan to join Compass. Contactually, which launched in 2011 and makes CRM software for real estate brokers, previously raised $12 million from investors, including Grotech Ventures, Flight Ventures and Rally Ventures. CEO Zvi Band and his team will stay put in their D.C. office, and it’s already starting hiring for more product, engineering and UX positions.
