Top Ten Tech M&A Deals This Week 01/17/2020
Curated by Ben Boissevain
01/16/2020 Apple reportedly acquires Xnor.ai to boost on-device AI
According to a report by GeekWire, the Cupertino-based company has made a deal with Xnor.ai, an edge-based AI startup, for $200 millio n. W hat is edge-based AI, you may ask? It’s a type of AI that executes algorithms locally (meaning on the hardware it’s being used for), instead of relying on the cloud.

Xnor.ai specializes in image recognition software that can even run on low-powered devices. We know that iPhones aren’t low-powered by any means, but this startup can help make the on-device processing mode efficient.
01/15/2020 Kraken Acquires Australian Crypto Platform Bit Trade
San Francisco-based digital assets exchange Kraken has announced that it has acquired Bit Trade, considered to be the longest-running crypto service in Australia. 

Founded in 2013, Bit Trade was a founding member of the Australian Digital Commerce Association – the industry body that represents Australian businesses and organizations that participate in the digital economy through blockchain technology. Besides trading it also offered services which allowed users to pay bills to over 19,000 businesses with any cryptocurrency available on the platform.
01/15/2020 Wind River acquires Star Lab to improve its Linux security
Once upon a time Wind River was best known as a leading embedded operating system (VxWorks) and Linux (Wind River Linux) company. It still is. But things have changed. Now its customers want their devices to work in the world of the Internet of Things (IoT) and that requires much better security. That's one reason why Wind River just acquired the Linux security company Star Lab.

Star Lab brings its Titanium Security Suite to Wind River's table. It uses a threat model that assumes an attacker will gain root (admin) access to your system, but makes it harder for them to do your system any harm. It also offers a secure virtual machine (VM) hypervisor, Crucible. Star also has a secure boot program, which ensures that a device's firmware and boot code hasn't been maliciously modified or manipulated.
01/14/2020 Google to acquire Irish retail tech start-up Pointy
Alphabet’s  Google  on Tuesday said it plans to acquire Pointy, an Irish retail start-up that helps traditional brick and mortar retailers list inventory online, for an undisclosed amoun t. Th e deal is expected to close in the coming weeks, Google said in a press release.

Retailers use Pointy’s software to automatically track store inventory. That information is then displayed on Google’s “see what’s in store” section, and on a Pointy page, so customers can find specific items that are in-stock near them.
01/14/2020 Equinix Reports Acquisition of Packet
Equinix, Inc. the global interconnection and data center company, announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Packet, the leading bare metal automation platform.

Equinix intends to leverage the Packet offering to accelerate the development and delivery of its interconnected edge services. By combining Packet's innovative and developer-oriented bare metal service offering with Equinix's interconnection capabilities and organic bare metal efforts, Equinix intends to create a world class, enterprise-grade bare metal offering.
01/13/2020 Visa is acquiring Plaid for $5.3 billion, 2x its final private valuation
Visa   announced that it is buying financial services API startup  Plaid   for $5.3 billion. 

Plaid develops financial services APIs. It is akin to what Stripe does for payments, but instead of facilitating payments, it helps developers share banking and other financial information more easily. It’s the kind of service that makes sense for a company like Visa .
01/13/2020 LexisNexis Risk Solutions To Buy ID Analytics From NortonLifeLock
LexisNexis Risk Solutions has agreed to purchase ID Analytics from NortonLifeLock for $375 million to enhance its credit and fraud risk assessment capabilities for enterprises. The Atlanta-based risk management business said its proposed acquisition of San Diego-based ID Analytics will help with the delivery of risk insight through a combination of proprietary data, patented analytics, and near-real-time cross-industry consumer identity behavior.

ID Analytics is widely recognized in the fraud and identity and credit risk space for its differentiated contributory data assets and advanced analytics capabilities.
CRN
01/13/2020 ICF makes $255M acquisition to bolster its tech implementation skills
ICF will pay $255 million to acquire ITG in a transaction that represents one of the buyer’s largest deals as a public company since 2006 and a major bet on a future where agencies adopt and implement open source platforms that are low code or no code.

Arlington, Virginia-based ITG is a unique, pure play digital consulting firm delivering IT systems modernization and business transformation for government and commercial clients. They enable their enterprise customers to realize the full potential of digital transformation through strategic consulting, disruptive technology integration, and agile software development at scale.
01/13/2020 $8 billion deal to create meal delivery giant
Amsterdam-based online food ordering company Takeaway.com has won the battle for Britain’s Just Eat with £6.2-billion pound ($8 billion) share offer that will create one of the world’s largest meal delivery companies. Takeaway says the combination will achieve annual cost savings of about 20 million euros from centralizing orders on its platform, unifying brands and improving procurement.

Just Eat is a leading global hybrid marketplace for online food delivery, providing customers with an easy and secure way to order and pay for food from their Restaurant Partners.
01/10/2020 iOffice Buys Teem After WeWork Lets It Go
iOffice  has scooped up conference room reservation startup Teem after WeWork announced plans to sell the company. The Houston-based facility management software company had been in talks with Teem, which makes software to book meeting rooms. 

Because iOffice makes using corporate office space easier, and its software can track seating assignments and locate rooms and tools in a building, it makes Teem an attractive acquisition with its reservation, visitor management and space usage software.
To discuss your company's corporate finance strategy,
do not hesitate to contact:
Ben Boissevain
Managing Partner
745 Fifth Avenue, Suite 500
New York, NY 10051
646-286-4589
'Top Ten Tech M&A Deals This Week' is written by
Fareen Pasaya, Associate at Ascento Capital, LLC