The year of 2014 is coming to its
end, but acquisitions don’t lessen. November was not the best deal month,
though we can see some featured acquisitions from the world’s giants, such as
Microsoft, Google and Yahoo.
It was a successful month for
video, photo, analytics and more, but not a social month at all. Very soon I’ll
bring to your attention the “acquisition winner” of 2014. I already guess who
it can be, but let’s wait one more month.
And here we go with November
deals:
10 November –
AppDirect Acquires Data Visualization Company Leftronic
AppDirect announced to acquire Leftronic, a data visualization startup that
launched four years ago. Leftronic allows businesses to build custom
dashboards visualizing important data. AppDirect co-CEO Daniel Saks
told me that by integrating Leftronic’s visualizations, AppDirect can give its
customers a dashboard for monitoring the status of their apps.
Yahoo announced a deal to acquire BrightRoll, a programmatic
video-advertising platform, for $640 million in cash. The deal will combine Yahoo’s desktop and mobile video
advertising inventory with BrightRoll’s platform and publisher relationships.
BrightRoll’s net revenue is expected to exceed $100 million this year, and
Yahoo said it expects the transaction to enhance its profitability.
Mail.ru - the Russian internet giant with 100 million users of its
mail, social networking and other web-based services - has made an acquisition that will start to bring
navigation and location-based services into the mix. It has acquired Maps.Me, a maker of map apps and other
navigation services based on OpenStreetMap data and with the ability to work
offline.The company will be integrating Maps.Me into its my.com platform.
Microsoft acquired Aorato, an
Israel-based maker of security solutions co-founded by veterans of the Israeli
defense forces, which only exited from stealth earlier this year. Aorato’s
focus is on enterprise services in the cloud and in hybrid on-premise and cloud
environments, using machine learning to detect suspicious patterns.
Groupon announced
that it has acquired Swarm Mobile,
a startup that helps businesses connect with and track their customers while in
stores. This continues Groupon’s pattern of
expanding its offerings for local businesses beyond daily deals. Earlier this
year, for example, it launched
individual business pages and announced an
iPad-based point-of-sale service.
18 November - Merkle Acquires Loyalty Startup 500friends
Customer
relationship management company Merkle
announced that it has acquired startup 500friends. The startup’s
LoyaltyPlus platform allows businesses to run customer loyalty programs in
stores, online, and on mobile. It also allows them to identify the
customers that are likely to have the highest lifetime value.
19 November - Google buys iOS app prototyping startup RelativeWave
Google has acquired RelativeWave,
the team responsible for the popular iOS app prototyping software Form. Form is
available for Mac and iOS, and allows designers and developers to create
rich interactive app prototypes and run them on their iPhone or iPad. As part
of the acquisition, RelativeWave has made Form available for free on the Mac App Store.
21 November - Yahoo Acquires Photo Startup Cooliris
Yahoo acquired Cooliris – a photo
app-maker, in order to build inspiring products, grow engagement, and ultimately
revenue. Cooliris was founded back in 2006 and was initially known for creating
a “3D wall” for navigating photos and other media content.
25 November – VigLink Acquires Content Promotion Startup LinkSmart
VigLink just announced that it is acquiring Boulder, Colo-based startup LinkSmart. The details of
how the two products will be integrated is still being worked out, and for now,
LinkSmart will continue to operate as a standalone service.
