As the global attitude towards acquisitions reflects the protectionism of regional ecosystems, global merger and acquisitions (M&A) are up 30 percent compared to 2016, but the capital invested in these startups remains on the decline.
Acquisitions in numbers
The US and Europe continue to control the majority of transactions made globally, with 86 percent of the startups bought coming from Europe or the US. That number is up by three percent from 2017, signaling a slow down of M&A's from the two mighty powers.
The United States remains the most dominant when looking at the most active investors, with Silicon Valley taking the crown. Unsurprisingly, the UK, followed by Germany and France are the most active in Europe.
Types of Acquisitions
- Speculating - when a company acquires a smaller company that has a new product or solution for potential growth opportunities in the future.
- Value Creating - a company acquires another company to improve the purchased company’s performance. After, they will decide whether to keep the acquired company or sell it.
- Consolidating - company acquires another company to remove the excess capacity in the industry. It removes the crowded competition in the market.
- Resource acquiring - the acquisition is happening because the company wants to gain the skills, position or the technology of the acquired company. It is faster and easier than developing their own.
- Accelerating - a company acquires another company to accelerate growth and increase market share. It works often when the acquired company has loyal customers, and the industry is very competitive, so the acquirer highly benefits from the acquisition.
95 Biggest Startup Acquisitions of 2018
Below you will find a list of the largest acquisitions of 2018. With the exception of a handful of companies, the majority of acquisitions listed below are startups. And the companies that have made the acquisition are both a mixture of unicorns, more established corporations, and startups.
8x8
A cloud communication provider including voice, video and contact center communications for any sized business. The acquisition will add some new features for 8x8 business users.
Jitsi
Jitsi is a platform which deploy a secure and good quality video conference platform.
Year founded: 2003
Date acquired: 29th of October
Acquisition price: n/a
Adobe Systems
Multinational computer software company focusing on creative software programms towards digital marketing.
Marketo
Marketo is a marketing software maker. The combination with Marketo will help to richen and offer new solutions for delivering different customer experience.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 20th of September
Acquisition price: $4.75 billion
Magento
A cloud-based eCommerce platform. Magneto is bringing Adobe Experience Cloud digital commerce enablement.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: 21st of May
Acquisition price: $1.68 billion
Sayspring
Sayspring allows designers to create voice-enabled apps without coding. Adobe did not expand on the acquisition plans for the future in details, but it is going to be connected with voice technology.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: 17th of April
Acquisition price: n/a
ADP
ADP provides human resources management software and services and are mainly know for managing payrolls in America. The acquisition will help to convince enterprises to use their workforce products.
WorkMarket
WorkMarket is a online platform managing freelancers, consultants and contractors in business.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: January
Acquisition price: n/a
Alibaba
Alibaba is a multinational company in China specialized in retail, eCommerce and technology. By acquiring Ele.me the company is diving deeper into retailing.
Ele.me
A Chinese food delivery company. They are known for 30-minute food delivery guarantee service.
Year founded: 2008
Date acquired: February
Acquisition price: $9.5 billion
Altair
A data intelligence provider. They offer enterprise data preparation, analytics of visualization solutions. The acquisitions of Datawatch and Angoss help to expand and strengthen the competitive position in the market.
Datawatch
An American software company selling data preparation solutions.
Year founded: 1985
Date acquired: 5th of November
Acquisition price: $176 million
Angoss
Angoss provides predictive analytics system helping companies discover important and relevant insights to solve business problems.
Year founded: 1984
Date acquired: 30th of January
Acquisition price: $24.5 million
Amazon
Amazon is a technology company, which is focusing on eCommerce.
PillPack
PillPack is an online pharmacy delivering medicine to homes. Currently, Amazon is pushing into the medicine industry and that is why they have acquired PillPack - to be ahead of other pharmacy organizations.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: June
Acquisition price: under $1 billion
Ring
Ring is a home security company selling doorbells with cameras attached. The acquisition adds value to Amazon's online selling platform and more importantly, to its home-tech services.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: February
Acquisition price: $1 billion
Tapzo
Tapzo is an app making it possible to access 35+ different apps within the app. With the acquisition, Amazon saved time with building a payment service to the level of Tapzo. The startup team will be working with Amazon Pay.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: September
Acquisition price: around $40 million
Amobee
Amobee is an advertising platform providing customers with advertising consultations to help with solutions and improvements. The acquisition will strengthen the company in the digital and TV market.
Videology
It is an advertising software company in the video and TV market.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: 29th of August
Acquisition price: $100 million
ANGI Homeservices
It is a digital marketplace for home services in the United States, Canada, and Europe. The deal with Handy will allow the company to target smaller tasks.
Handy
Handy offers handyman services, like cleaning, furniture assembly and more for fixed prices in the United States.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: October
Acquisition price: n/a
appScatter
An app management portal. The portal allows developers to distribute apps, analyse downloads and track competitors. The deal with Priori Data will enable them to access millions of apps for analysis.
Priori Data
Priori Data is a Mobile App company. Users can check competitors performance, plan optimization strategy, and check market trends.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: 6th of April
Acquisition price: £13.5 million
Apptio
Apptio is software which use machine learning to translate technology costs across the IT portfolio into a business-centric view. The deal with Digital Fuel, Apptio extends its leadership of the Technology Business Management market. However, at the end of 2018, it got acquired by Vista Equity Partners.
Digital Fuel
Digital Fuel provides services to increase traffic, increase conversions and help to develop new markets.
Year founded: 2000
Date acquired: 2nd of February
Acquisition price: $42.5 million
AT&T
AT&T is the worlds biggest telecommunication company and the second largest provider of mobile phone services.
AppNexus
AppNexus is a cloud-based software optimizing online advertising and provides enterprise technology products. By acquiring AppNexus, AT&T is able to expand their supported offerings.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: September
Acquisition price: $1.6 billion
AlienVault
AlienVault is a company providing security controls for organizations. By acquiring AlienVault, AT&T is completing their dream of giving access to cybersecurity solutions.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: August
Acquisition price: n/a
atpco
Atpco is in the centre of the airline ecosystem and is leading the industry into the next generation by providing smart connections.
Routehappy
Routehappy supports flight shopping content, they help airlines to differentiate and modernize. Routehappy Scores provides information about cabin data like layout, WiFi, seating, food and more.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: January
Acquisition price:n/a
Autodesk
Autodesk is a software corporation company for different industries, like construction, engineering and manufacturing in California. They found a solution to have the construction process paperless by acquiring the PlanGrid.
PlanGrid
A construction productivity software which helps to share information or control the construction team without using paper.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: 20th of November
Acquisition price: $875 million
Avaya
Avaya focuses on business communications. With the acquisition of Spoken, Avaya is able to move towards AI, Big Data and Machine Learning.
Spoken
Spoken is a learning platform using artificial intelligence to offer business English lessons. The user can choose the preferred time and day for the lesson.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: January
Acquisition price: n/a
Buildingconnected
Buildingconnected is a preconstruction platform for hiring skilled and qualified contractors for projects. By acquiring the TradeApp, Buildingconnected is expanding with an offer of subcontractor risk analysis.
TradeTapp
Tradeapp is a startup using financial and technology analysis to help the construction industry management make better and safer decisions.
Year founded: 2015
Date acquired: 14th of August
Acquisition price: $275 million
Bynder
Bynder is a digital file management platform. They allow to easily find, use and create content. The acquisition offer marketing teams cloud solutions for managing and distributing digital assets.
WEBdam
WEBdam is a cloud-based platform for uniting teams. Everyone is connected in a streamlined fashion clearing the way for the important things. Teams are more efficient and impactful.
Year founded: 2005
Date acquired: 16th of February
Acquisition price: $49.1 million
Capital Float
Capital Float is a digital finance company working with credits. With this acquisition, they are strengthening the consumer lending business.
Walnut
Walnut is a mobile app that automatically tracks spending and bank balances.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 21st of August
Acquisition price: $30 million
Carbonite
A backup software which protects files, photos and more. The plan of Carbonite with Mozy is to build a much stronger data protection company.
Mozy
Mozy provides online backup services.
Year founded: 2005
Date acquired: 14th of February
Acquisition price: $145.8 million
Cisco Systems
Multinational technology corporation which manufactures and sells different high technology products and services. The acquisition will help Cisco to accelerate their intent based networking strategy.
Duo Security
Security expertise. They combine expertise with user philosophy.
Year founded: 2009
Date acquired: 2nd of August
Acquisition price: $2.35 billion
CommonBond
CommonBond are student loan lenders. They finance undergraduate and graduate student loans. With this acquisition, they are able to offer loan advice for consumers.
NextGenVest
NextGenVest is a financial advising company.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: 4th of December
Acquisition price: n/a
Cornerstone OnDemand
The company helps the organization to train and manage their employees. The acquisition with Grovo will fulfill their vision - to improve access to education globally.
Grovo
Grovo provides modern learning for effective workplace education. Microlearning and customizable lessons are provided by an easy-to-use platform for companies of every size.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: 7th of November
Acquisition price: $24 million
Dialpad
Dialpad is a communication platform. The company was looking for artificial intelligence options and found it with the TalkIQ acquisition.
TalkIQ
TalkIQ helps businesses to take action with the most important insights from voice conversations with their customers.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 16th of May
Acquisition price: little under $50 Million
Didi Chuxing
A Chinese ridesharing startup also offering food delivering service. By acquiring 99app, Didi is planning to expand into the Latin America market.
99app
99 is a transport company offering their services through an app in Brazil.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: January
Acquisition price: $1 billion
DocuSign
A San Francisco based company providing electronic signatures and digital transaction document services. The acquisition will help the company to grow even faster.
SpringCM
The startup SpringCM is a cloud platform managing sales contracts and all kinds of documentation through applications and desktop.
Year founded: 2005
Date acquired: 31st of July
Acquisition price: $220 million
Evergage
It is a cloud-based software which allows users to analyse and respond to user behavior on their website. The deal with MyBuys delivers individualized experiences that drive conversions and increased revenues.
MyBuys
MyBuys technology delivers product recommendations on a company website and e-mail to thousands of shoppers.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 30th of January
Acquisition price: n/a
Facebook is a social networking platform. By acquiring Bloomsbury AI, Facebook is strengthening its language research tools and applications.
Bloomsbury AI
The company provides access for businesses to create their own question-answer system. They have also built tools fighting against fake news and content.
Year founded: 2015
Date acquired: July
Acquisition price: between $23-30 million
Farfetch
Farfetch is a luxury retail fashion platform selling many world known brands. The deal with Stadium Goods will help them to grow in a segment of luxury fashion.
Stadium Goods
Stadium Goods are an online marketplace, which sells sneakers and streetwear.
Year founded: 2015
Date acquired: December
Acquisition price: $250 million
Front App
Front is a shared inbox product which works just like email. It is an app used by businesses to streamline email communications with customers. Because of the acquisition, Front will add a calendar feature to the email app.
Meetingbird
Meetingbird is a scheduling alternative. Because of the interface, there is a possibility to customize meeting times, locations and more making it easier to find the best time to meet.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: 23rd of October
Acquisition price: n/a
Gannett
Gannett is one of the largest US-based news publishers. By acquiring WordStream, the company now offers digital marketing services.
WordStream
WordStream is an online advertising platform for any sized company. They are focusing mainly on paid search advertising.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: 2nd of July
Acquisition price: $130 million
GOAT
GOAT is an online marketplace for high-value sneakers. Flight Club will help GOAT to expand to the international market in China and Australia.
Flight Club
It is an online platform for selling sneakers worldwide.
Date acquired: 8th of February
Acquisition price: n/a
Google focuses on internet related products and services. The company has acquired three startups:
Cask
Cask is a platform creating solutions for running big data. It cuts down data lakes by 80% and the time to production for the applications. The acquisition of Cask will make it easier for Google to build big data applications for its cloud.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: May
Acquisition price: n/a
Velostrata
Velostrata offers service for organizations to manage their IT operations. The reason for the acquisition is that Google is looking to grow its cloud business.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 9th of May
Acquisition price: n/a
Onward Holdings
Onward Holding is a startup building tools to automate customer service efficiency with the main focus on Ai chatbots. The acquisition will improve the capabilities of Google Assistant.
Year founded: 2015
Date acquired: October
Acquisition price: n/a
Grubhub
Grubhub is ordering and delivering food platform based in Chicago. The deal with the LevelUp ordering platform is going to deepen their combination with restaurants.
LevelUp
A mobile ordering platform based in Boston connecting restaurants and customers. The app provides analytics of customer experience and loyalty.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: 17th of September
Acquisition price: $390 million
IBM
International Business Machines is a multinational information technology company. They produce and sell computer hardware and software, however, they are also known as a research company. They work in categories like cloud computing, commerce, IT infrastructure, data, and analytics. After the Red Hat acquisition, IBM became the worlds biggest hybrid cloud provider.
Red Hat
Red Hat is the provider of enterprise source solutions, like Linux and the Could.
Year founded: 1993
Date acquired: October
Acquisition price: $34 billion
Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a private equity and American venture firm. The acquisition will help mid-sized to large entrepreneurs lift up their customer experience.
Episerver
Digital Experience Cloud. Everything together on one screen - Digital Content, Marketing, and Commerce.
Year founded: 1994
Date acquired: 6th of September
Acquisition price: $1.16 billion
Ipsos
Ipsos is a marketing consulting firm and a global market researcher. The acquisition will lead to more insights for customers, combined with artificial intelligence.
Synthesio
Synthesio uses its Social Listening Platform to monitor online activities and surface actionable insights.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 30th of October
Acquisition price: $50 million
LogMeIn
LogMeIn is a cloud-based service for collaboration platforms. The acquisition will place them among the biggest UCaaS (Unified Communications as Service) companies.
Jive Communications
Jive provides cloud-based phone systems.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 8th of February
Acquisition price: $342 million
Lyft
Lyft is an on-demand transportation company. The company has acquired two companies:
Motivate
Motivate is a bike sharing operator in North of America. The acquisition shows the commitment of Lyft to Green City Initiatives.
Year founded: 2009
Date acquired: July
Acquisition price: $250 million
Blue Vision Labs
A startup with the goal of revolutionizing and modernizing transportation. The cloud connects passengers with their driver via smartphones. The acquisition will help Lyft with the self-driving division.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: October
Acquisition price: $72 million
Medidata
A technology company developing and marketing software for clinical science. The acquisition will help science companies with product development. The vision is for patients to receive the right medication at the right time.
SHYFT Analytics
The startup SHYFT Analytics works with the pharma and biotech industry.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 12th of June
Acquisition price: $195 million
Microsoft
Microsoft is a multinational technology company which develops and manufactures licenses and sells many electronics and computer software. The acquisition was made because Microsoft wants to become the best place where to build software.
GitHub
A web-based hosting service for computer code used by large tech companies like Apple and Amazon.
Year founded: 2008
Date acquired: 26th of October
Acquisition price: $7.5 billion
Mimecast
Mimecast specializes in email management and security. With this acquisition, Mimecast offers its customers what was detected and what the reason for that.
Solebit
Solebit is a security company which protects users from cyber attacks.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 31st of July
Acquisition price: $88 million
MINDBODY
Mindbody is a cloud-based wellness service. The Booker acquisition will add spa and salons to the Mindbody marketplace bringing more value to the business.
Booker
Booker is a software company headquartered in New York City for spa and salon based management systems.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: 13th of March
Acquisition price: $150 million
Nasdaq
Nasdaq is a stock exchange on New York City, the second largest in the World. The deal with eVestment will enhance and allow the company to understand the buy-side and result in new solutions.
eVestment
eVestment is a cloud-based community helping to identify investment decisions and monitor investment market trends.
Year founded: 2000
Date acquired: 17th of September
Acquisition price: $705 million
Netgear
Netgear is a networking company which produces networking hardware for users. They also work in the commercial field and as a service provider. The goal of acquiring Meural was to build a WiFi router inside the digital frame.
Meural
An American technology company selling digital canvas for showcasing photography and artwork.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 9th of June
Acquisition price: n/a
OpenText
OpenText is Canada's largest software company and a leader in Enterprise Information Management (EIM). The deal with Liaison Technologies integrated into a suite of solutions that facilitate information flows efficiently.
Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies is a provider of cloud-based information integration and data management.
Year founded: 2000
Date acquired: 1st of November
Acquisition price: $310 million
Oracle
Oracle is a technology corporation specialized in developing and marketing database software, technology, and cloud systems. The company has acquired the following startups:
Talari Networks
Talari Networks is a networking equipment manufacturer in San Jose. The acquisition will help Oracle to build its cloud business.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: 15th of November
Acquisition price: n/a
Datascience
Datascience is a private workspace platform for data projects. The platform allows to organize and access data. The main initiative of Datascience acquisition is machine learning and artificial intelligence. Oracle knows that to compete, they have to be able to support customers with modern data and tools.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 16th of May
Acquisition price: n/a
DataFox
They are an intelligence platform which helps with marketing, sales and prioritizing target groups. The acquisition increased Oracle Cloud Operations data which increased customer outcomes.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: 22nd of October
Acquisition price: n/a
Grapeshot
Grapeshot is a company offering brand safety for marketers. They provide contextual intelligence solutions. Oracle is planning to use Grapeshot for Oracle Data Cloud to add more capabilities which will provide tools for those in marketing.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: April
Acquisition price: $400 million
Paypal
Paypal operates worldwide online payments and transfers. The acquisition is strengthening Paypal platform expanding the business to 11 new countries.
iZettle
The startup sells mobile credit card readers and different payment platforms.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: May
Acquisition price: $2.2 billion
Perforce
Perforce is a global enterprise software provider. The acquisition of Perfecto Mobile will bolden Perforce's software portfolio with the capabilities of the web, mobile, and loT testing.
Perfecto Mobile
Perfecto Mobile is a cloud-based mobile lab for developers helping with automation, coverage and release velocity.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 9th October
Acquisition price: $200 million
Polycom
Polycom is an American company, which develops voice, video and communication technology. The acquisition will open new markets and growth opportunities for Polycom.
Obihai
Obihai is a manufacturer of telephone adapters.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: 4th of January
Acquisition price: n/a
Recruit Holdings
Recurit group is a Japanese consultation based platform which helps with the hiring process. Glassdoors will be separated from the HR Technology segment growth but aligned as a sister company to Indeed.
Glassdoor
Glassdoor is a website where companies can anonymously view their competitors, and job seekers can find job listings and leave employment reviews.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: 10th of May
Acquisition price: $1.2 billion
Redbubble
Redbubble is a marketplace selling print on demand products. With the acquisition, Redbubble is able to access a wider international market.
TeePublic
TeePublic is an eCommerce platform where artists can sell their T-shirt designs, smartphone cases, mugs, and canvas prints.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: 24th of October
Acquisition price: $41 million
Relx Group
Relx Group is an information analytics tool for entrepreneurs and business customers. They already had a Relx Risk & Business Analytics, which were working in customer protection field by collaborating with ThreatMetrix. The acquisition has let Relx expand and offer more stable service in this field.
ThreatMetrix
A digital company which protects customers from online fraud and improves customer experience.
Year founded: 2005
Date acquired: 29th of January
Acquisition price: $817 million
Resy
Resy is an online platform connecting users with restaurants in 160 cities. By acquiring their competitor Reserve, they received access to more than 4000 consumers.
Reserve
Reserve is an online platform helping guests and restaurants to connect.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 5th of November
Acquisition price: n/a
Roche
Roche is a healthcare company working in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics. Flatiron will be working with oncology research and development under Roche.
Flatiron Health
A healthcare service company whose goal is to focus on accelerating cancer research.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: 6th of April
Acquisition price: $1.9 billion
S&P Global
S&P Global work with financial information, benchmarks, and analytics. The acquisition will improve the customer experience for its clients and strengthen their emerging technology capabilities.
Kensho
Kensho is creating financial intelligence products. Providing with next-generation - artificial intelligence analytics.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: 6th of March
Acquisition price: $550 million
Salesforce
American cloud-based software company.
Mulesoft
Integration software for connecting applications and devices. With MuleSoft Salesforce will be able to unlock data across legacy systems and cloud apps.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: August
Acquisition price: $16 billion
Datorama
Datorama is a platform connecting all your data and providing availability from one platform to different channels and campaigns. The acquisition will enhance Salesforce marketing cloud.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: 16th of July
Acquisition price: $800 million
SAP
SAP is the worlds largest provider of enterprise software which manages business operations and customer relations. The company wants to create unique algorithms for different industries.
Qualtrics
A subscription software which collects and analyzes data. Survey platform which focuses on customer and employee experience and loyalty.
Year founded: 2002
Date acquired: 11th of November
Acquisition price: $8 billion
CallidusCloud
Enterprise software is known for its cloud-based solutions which help with sales performance. The acquisition gives SAP users a differentiated CRM, which is cloud-based.
Year founded: 1996
Date acquired: 30th of January
Acquisition price: $2.4 billion
ServiceNow
A cloud computing company. ServiceNow is going to build Parlo's language understanding into its business platform for business automation.
Parlo
Parlo is a young startup building bots for enterprises. They have developed the language engine - Broca, which learns by doing unassisted. They are also working with chatbots.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: 3rd of May
Acquisition price: n/a
VendorHawk
VendorHwak is a Vendor Management platform working with cloud apps which are used to run customers businesses. With the acquisition, ServiceNow is expanding into software asset management.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: 25th of April
Acquisition price: n/a
Siemens
Siemens is a worldwide powerhouse which focuses mainly on three areas - electrification, automation, and digitalization. The acquisition will add cloud-based expertise and solutions for the company.
Mendix
It is a low-code software platform, which is easily used by businesses to build web and mobile applications.
Year founded: 2005
Date acquired: 3rd of August
Acquisition price: $730 million
Slack
A collaboration hub for companies no matter the industry. The communication happens in channels whether it is personal, project or team based. With the acquisition, Slack received more customers and closer integration with Atlassian products.
Atlassian
Atlassian offers communication products for project developers, content and project managers.
Year founded: 2002
Date acquired: September
Acquisition price: n/a
Splunk
Splunk is a provider of data analytics. Security has a big meaning in this company for the last years, as it has been the major factor of growth.
Phantom Cyber
A young startup automating the work of IT security staff. The deal with Phantom will help Splunk operate in this field.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: 27th of February
Acquisition price: $350 million
VictorOps
VictorOps works with incident management. The deal with VictorOps will improve the customer experience, resolve issues and innovate.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: 19th of June
Acquisition price: $120 million
Square
Financial service and mobile payment company. The Square Register accepts offline debit and credit cards on iOS or Android phones. Together the two companies will offer customers to start building or to grow omnichannel businesses.
Weebly
Weebly is an eCommerce platform for turning ideas into a website or online store.
Year founded: 2006
Date acquired: 26th of April
Acquisition price: $365 million
Talend
Talend modernizes data and cloud integration. Stitch and Talend complement one another, as they both have similar visions.
Stitch Data
Stitch Data is a developer platform for constantly moving data.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: 9th of November
Acquisition price: $60 million
The Adecco Group
A Fortune Global 500 company with the largest temp staffing firm in the world located in Switzerland. They offer different services, like consulting, temporary staffing, talent development and more.
General Assembly
General Assembly is an educational organization with focus on educating entrepreneurs and professionals. The acquisition will complete the human resource services The Adecco Group already offer.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: April
Acquisition price: $412.5 million
Vettery
Vattery is an online platform connecting job seekers with companies. Job candidates browse applications online, then companies reach out to the users which they are interested in. The acquisition will broaden Adecco's digital offerings.
Year founded: 2013
Date acquired: February
Acquisition price: $100 million
Truecaller
Truecaller is a modern edition of a phonebook. They can find mobile phone details globally. Chillr team will be joining Truecaller Pay to improve their payment adoption.
Chillr
Chillr is an Indian payment business to send money directly while using a mobile or web application.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: June
Acquisition price: n/a
Twilio
Twilio offers a cloud communications platform as a service. It improves human experience with programmable communications through allowing software developers to make and receive phone calls as well as exchange messages via web service APIs.
SendGrid
Leading email API platform.
Year founded: 2009
Date acquired: 16th October 2018, closed in February 2019
Acquisition price: $3 billion
Tyler Technologies
Tyler Technologies is a provider of information management solutions and services for local city governments. The deal with SceneDoc will help to expand to many more law enforcement agencies.
SceneDoc
SceneDoc is a platform which collects information. It allows to easily complete a work task remotely.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: 10th of December
Acquisition price: n/a
Uber
Uber is a transportation network company. By acquiring Jump Bikes, Uber is fulfilling their dream - providing customer transportation from A to B in different and affordable ways.
Jump Bikes
Jump Bikes have a business with electronic bikes and scooters in the United States, Germany, and Portugal.
Year founded: 2010
Date acquired: 9th of April
Acquisition price: close to $200 million
Upland Software
Upland Software is a cloud-based work management software for enterprises. The acquisition broadens and strengthens Upland's product portfolio.
Adestra
Adestra is an email marketing software company. The platform helps with automation, account structure, campaign management, security, cross-channel and targeting.
Year founded: 2004
Date acquired: 15th of December
Acquisition price: $60.2 million
Uzabase
A Japanese based company working within information platforms with industry analysis and economics. They also operate a news platform. Uzabaze wants to expand in the international markets with the help of Quartz.
Quartz
Quartz is a news website without paywalls for digital news.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: March
Acquisition price: between $75-110 million
Veeam Software
An information technology company based in Switzerland. They develop backup and intelligent data management software. The acquisition positions them for continued hyper- growth in the cloud business.
N2WS
N2WS is a leader in the public cloud, which provide data protection.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: 16th of January
Acquisition price: $42.5 million
Vista Equity Partners
Vista is a private equity venture capital and leading investment firm focused on software, technology and business data. After their founding, their next goal is to build up the cloud software platform to help all company types and sizes.
Apptio
It is a hybrid IT system. Apptio has a cloud-based application where the IT managers can plan and optimize their technology investments.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: 8th of November
Acquisition price: $1.94 billion
Vonage Business
Vonage Business is a communication provider headquartered in New Jersey. Together the companies are able to richen the cloud communication platform.
NewVoiceMedia
NewVoiceMedia provides cloud-based technologies helping businesses to sell more.
Year founded: 2000
Date acquired: 22nd of September
Acquisition price: $350 million
Walmart
Walmart is a retail corporation operating in multiple markets. With the acquisition of Flipkart, (77%of the company) Walmart will continue partnering to create economic growth across agriculture, food, and retail.
Flipkart
Flipkart is an Indian electronic commerce company. It is the biggest Indian online store.
Year founded: 2007
Date acquired: August
Acquisition price: $16 billion
Eloquii
Eloquii is an online clothing store with a focus on plus size clothing. They will join Walmarts eCommerce and modernize plus-sized clothing market.
Year founded: 2014
Date acquired: October
Acquisition price: $100 million
WeWork
WeWork is an American company which rents desks and workspace to startups, freelancers and workers. The acquisition allows them to enter the Asian market.
Naked Hub
Naked Hub is a Cahinese business, with 10k employees in 24 locations. They provide community and services to start operations in the desired place.
Year founded: 2016
Date acquired: April
Acquisition price: $400 million
Workday
Workday is a financial and human management software vendor. With Adaptive Insights, Workday customers will be equipped to better plan and analyze across the enterprise.
Adaptive Insights
Adaptive Insights is a business planning cloud which helps people in companies collaborate and make decisions faster.
Year founded: 2003
Date acquired: 11th of June
Acquisition price: $1.6 billion
Xero
A business accounting software platform where it is possible to view real-time cash flow. The deal with Hubdoc make accounting and bookkeeping more simple.
Hubdoc
Hubdoc takes care of bills and statements in one secure hub. It is possible to view all documents by one login.
Year founded: 2011
Date acquired: 31st of July
Acquisition price: $70 million
Zomato
Zomato is an Indian online food ordering platform. With the acquisition, they are going to expand and get new users.
TongueStun
TongueStun is a startup working with aggregating caterers for offices.
Year founded: 2012
Date acquired: September
Acquisition price: $18 million
The slow down of capital
A whopping $220 billion of capital was invested globally on M&A's, yet that number is down by $4 million compared to the previous year. 2016 saw a peak at $246 billion.
And a surprising find from the Tech Startups M&A Report 2018 was the decrease of 11 percent in the number of European M&A transactions, as well as a 30 percent drop in the deal value.
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A preference for the West, not the rest
US companies are still eclipsing the rest of the world, with almost two times the number of acquired startups in comparison to their European neighbors. They represented 68 percent of all transatlantic transactions in 2018.
And the EU looks to their own market with an increase of six percent in domestic acquisitions at 81 percent. When looking at the statistics, it is very evident that the US and Europe are buying from within their own markets.
Do you have a feeling you might have missed some huge acquisitions of 2018? Or are you just interested in acquisitions? Valuer has prepared a list of the 95 biggest acquisitions worldwide in 2018. The article includes simple explanations of acquisition types, why acquisitions are increasing in value and insights about startup acquisitions in 2019.
Acquisition and merger value increased by 4%
In 2018 the value of acquisitions and mergers increased by four percent to $3.8 trillion, while the number of transactions decreased by four percent to 50,052.
One of the reasons why acquisitions and mergers are increasing in value of transactions could be overpriced acquisitions. It is becoming a new trend. Executives are ready to make more deals and pay more for the acquisitions.
[Related article - The Top 5 Things Investors Look For In Startups]
Overpaying for acquisitions
Microsoft is known for breaking records by overpaying for acquisitions. In 2013, they bought Nokia for $7.2 billion and after sold it to HMD Global for $350 million. It was one really costly mistake.
And experts are still arguing whether Microsoft made a mistake by acquiring Linkedin for $26.2 billion, from which 50 percent were premium.
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Sneak Peek of 2019 acquisitions
The first two quarters of 2019 are almost gone, and big companies like Spotify, DropBox, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have already managed or are in agreement to acquire a startup.
Here is a little insight into notable startup acquisitions in 2019:
- DropBox acquired HelloSign, an e-signature platform for $230 million. The acquisition fulfills DropBox strategy, to provide a digital hub for organizations.
- Amazon buys WiFi router maker company called Eero. The company will allow Amazon to make the installation of smart home devices simpler.
- NVIDIA has an agreement to acquire Mellanox. Both companies are the world’s leading companies in high-performance computing. The acquisition value is around $6.9 billion.
- Palo Alto Networks to acquire Demisto, a security startup for $560 million. It will help to accelerate AI capabilities for Palo Alto Networks
- Microsoft acquired Citus Data in January. Citus Data builds PostgreSQL databases and together with Microsoft, they will deliver the best database experience for customers.
- Facebook quietly acquired Chainspace in February. It is Facebook’s first blockchain startup acquisition. The details about the deal are not made available.
Conclusion
Almost every startup founders dream is to one day get acquired by a corporate company. And the reality is that these startups tend to change hands at a fast pace. And with innovation at the top of corporations list, we will continue to see these monumental deals take place.
2018 was a record-setting year with the value of transactions increasing at a staggering rate. While fewer deals are being made, the value of deals continues to rise at over $3.8 trillion last year alone!
For example, American giant retailer Walmart acquired 77 percent of Flipkart, an Indian eCommerce company for $16 billion. It’s India's biggest startup success story until now.
Let’s see what 2019 will bring.
