Amid the on-going coronavirus pandemic, 2021 followed in the footsteps of its predecessor, continuing to be an unpredictable, and at times incredibly difficult, year. But one thing that stayed constant was the steady flow of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) across the tech sector.
According to research by Global Data, global tech M&A deals had already neared $3 trillion by Q3, largely supported by the tech, media, and telecom sectors. Although nothing rivalled Xilinx’s $35 billion acquisition of Advanced Micro Devices in 2020, last year did see Intuit buy Mailchimp for $12 billion and Square splash out a princely sum — $29 billion — for Afterpay.
GlobalData
Global mergers and acquisitions value.
As for whether 2022 will maintain last year’s pace, early signs seem to suggest there will be no slowing of big deals across the industry, with cybersecurity and collaboration software already proving to be hot areas.
Here are the biggest enterprise technology acquisitions of 2022 so far, in reverse chronological order:
July 6: GoTo to acquire Miradore
GoTo, the company formerly known as LogMeIn, has announced its intention to acquire Miradore, a cloud-based device management provider for an undisclosed amount. Miradore is currently owned by the Nordic technology investor Standout Capital.
Founded in 2006, Miradore is a mobile device management (MDM) cloud platform that allows IT teams to manage end users across iOS, Android, Windows, and macOS. GoTo expects to integrate Miradore’s technology with its GoTo Resolve IT support and management product in 2023.
In a statement, GoTo CEO Mike Kohlsdorf said, “Miradore’s scalable, SMB-focused solutions are a natural fit for GoTo and our customers, and we’re extremely excited to be working together... All of this will further bolster GoTo’s internal talent and market potential within the fast-growing MDM market, which is expected to surpass $28 billion by 2027.”
June 23: Kaseya acquires Datto for $6.2B
Kaseya, a maker of IT service and security management software, said Thursday it had finalized its $6.2 billion acquisition of cybersecurity company Datto, promising tight integration between the two companies' products and lower pricing for customers.
The deal's closure marks the third high-profile acquisition for Kaseya in the past 18 months; the company acquired security threat response company Infocyte in January, and threat detection company BitDam in March 2021.
In a statement, Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola said: “We bought Datto because we think they’re AWESOME – their world-class products, highly-regarded brand, innovative culture and amazing people – we have no intention of messing up any of that. We will build on what they created so in the end, MSPs will get the maximum value from their solutions at an affordable price.”
May 26: Broadcom to acquire VMware for $61B
Semiconductor manufacturer and infrastructure software giant Broadcom will acquire virtualization and enterprise cloud vendor VMware in a deal worth roughly $61 billion in stock and cash, the companies announced on May 26. Broadcom will also assume $8 billion of VMware net debt as part of the deal, which is one of the biggest of the year so far.
"Building upon our proven track record of successful M&A, this transaction combines our leading semiconductor and infrastructure software businesses with an iconic pioneer and innovator in enterprise software as we reimagine what we can deliver to customers as a leading infrastructure technology company," Broadcom CEO Hock Tan said in a statement. "We look forward to VMware's talented team joining Broadcom, further cultivating a shared culture of innovation and driving even greater value for our combined stakeholders, including both sets of shareholders."
The deal, which is still subject to customary regulatory approval and closing conditions, will see the existing Broadcom Software Group fully rebranded as VMware.
May 11: Salesforce acquires Troops.ai
Salesforce has announced that it will acquire Troops.ai for an undisclosed amount. Founded in 2016, Troops.ai is a revenue and communications platform that uses Slack and Microsoft Teams bots to surface CRM data from platforms such as Salesforce.
In a statement, Salesforce said that Troops and its team will become part of Slack—which it acquired in 2020—when the deal closes in 2023.
“We’ve been a leader in the industry, working with some of the fastest-growing companies in the world, including Salesforce and Slack,” Troops’ CEO and cofounder Dan Reich wrote in a blog post. “We’ve done this by delivering real-time insights from systems of record like Salesforce to systems of engagement like Slack, bringing together information and actions that customer-facing teams need to close new deals and support existing customers.”
May 5: Google acquires microLED startup Raxium
Google has acquired Raxium, a five-year-old Bay Area startup working on microLED display technologies for wearables and augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR) headsets. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but could be as much as $1 billion, according to reports by The Information.
In a blog post announcing the acquisition, Rick Osterloh, senior vice president of devices and services at Google, said: “Raxium’s technical expertise in this area will play a key role as we continue to invest in our hardware efforts.”
The Raxium team will immediately join Google’s devices and services team.
April 25: Elon Musk buys Twitter for $44B
Nine years after going public, and eleven days after billionaire Elon Musk first made an offer to buy Twitter, the social media network announced it would become a privately owned company once again.
The purchase price totals an eye-watering $44 billion and is includes of $21 billion of Musk’s own money, alongside debt funding from Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions. The purchase price represents a 38% premium to Twitter's closing stock price on April 1.
Despite initially declining Musk’s offer and enacting anti-takeover measures, the board ultimately decided to accept Musk's offer once it saw confirmed funding for the acquisition.
In a company statement, Bret Taylor, Twitter's independent board chair, said: "The Twitter Board conducted a thoughtful and comprehensive process to assess Elon's proposal with a deliberate focus on value, certainty, and financing. The proposed transaction will deliver a substantial cash premium, and we believe it is the best path forward for Twitter's stockholders.”
April 11: Kaseya buys Datto for $6.2B and takes the company private
Security software company Kaseya has agreed to buy Datto for $6.2 billion and will take the company private again, after it listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2020. Datto was founded in 2007 and provides data backup and security software, primarily to managed service providers.
“This is exciting news for Kaseya’s global customers, who can expect to see more functional, innovative and integrated solutions as a result of the purchase,” said Fred Voccola, Kaseya’s CEO.
April 5: AMD acquires Pensando for $1.9B
Chipmaker AMD has announced the acquisition of Pensando for approximately $1.9 billion.
Pensado specializes in data processing unites (DPUs), which include intelligent, programmable software to support the software-defined cloud, compute, networking, storage, and security services that could be rolled out quickly to edge, colocation, or service-provider networks.
“There are a wide range of use cases—such as 5G and IoT—that need to support lots of low-latency traffic,” Soni Jiandani, Pensando cofounder and chief business office told Network World last November. “We’ve taken a ground-up approach to giving enterprise customers a fully programmable system with the ability to support multiple infrastructure services without dedicated CPUs.”
March 29: Celonis acquires Process Analytics Factory
Process mining specialist Celonis is acquiring fellow German software firm, Process Analytics Factory, for a reported $100 million.
Up until now, Celonis has been focused on helping enterprises optimize processes around their ERP systems — and more recently has branched out to help them optimize their use of workflow automation platforms, too. Now it is acquiring Process Analytics Factory to improve its process mining offering and help enterprises automate with Microsoft’s Power Platform.
In October 2020 Celonis launched its Execution Management System (EMS) to visualize and design more efficient processes, and in April 2021 it formed a partnership with Microsoft to deliver process analytics through Power BI and to integrate its process improvement tools with Microsoft power Platform. Then, in October 2021, it partnered with ServiceNow to deliver process mining capabilities to the Now platform. It also has technology partnerships with Appian, Coupa, IBM, Oracle, Salesforce, Snowflake, Splunk, and a handful of other software vendors.
March 28: HP to acquire Poly for $3.3B
HP has announced it is acquiring Poly, a company that specializes in video and audio equipment, for a purchase price of $1.7 billion, with a total transaction value of $3.3 billion, including debt. The deal is expected to close by the end of 2022.
The acquisition is set to accelerate HP’s foray into the world of hybrid work, coming eight months after the company purchased remote desktop software provider Teradici.
Founded in 1990 and originally named Polycom, the company was acquired by headset maker Plantronics in 2019, after which the two newly merged companies rebranded themselves as Poly. Since then, the company has focused on providing enterprise-grade collaboration products, such as meeting room speakers and cameras, webcams, headsets, and software.
“The rise of the hybrid office creates a once-in-a-generation opportunity to redefine the way work gets done,” said Enrique Lores, president and CEO of HP. “Combining HP and Poly creates a leading portfolio of hybrid work solutions across large and growing markets. Poly’s strong technology, complementary go-to-market, and talented team will help to drive long-term profitable growth as we continue building a stronger HP.”
March 23: Apple acquires UK fintech startup Credit Kudos
Apple is acquiring the UK-based fintech startup Credit Kudos for an undisclosed amount. Credit Kudos last raised £5 million ($6.5 million) in funding in April 2020.
Neither Credit Kudos or Apple could be reached to confirm the deal, which was first reported by the crypto-focused publication The Block, citing three sources close to the deal.
Credit Kudos is a challenger credit bureau that uses machine learning and real-time data to build up a fuller picture of a person’s credit score, rather than traditional agencies, which typically rely on older information such as bank and utility statements to build a profile.
The firm has also benefitted from the recent wave of open banking regulations across the globe, which aim to open up consumer financial data via a set of secure application programming interfaces (APIs). Credit Kudos provides this data to clients for services such as affordability and risk assessments.
It is unclear what Apple plans to do with Credit Kudos, but the company has invested significantly in its fintech capabilities over recent years — in particular, its mobile Apple Pay wallet and its Apple Card credit card, which is currently only available in the US and was built in partnership with Goldman Sachs.
March 8: Google buys cybersecurity company Mandiant for $5.4B
Google will acquire cyberdefense and response firm Mandiant for $5.4 billion, in a move to offer an end-to-end security operations suite and advisory services from its cloud platform.
“Cybersecurity is a mission, and we believe it’s one of the most important of our generation,” Mandiant CEO Kevin Mandia said in a statement announcing the acquisition. "Google Cloud shares our mission-driven culture to bring security to every organization. Together, we will deliver our expertise and intelligence at scale via the Mandiant Advantage SaaS platform, as part of the Google Cloud security portfolio.”
March 3: Snowflake buys Streamlit for $800M
Data cloud company Snowflake has acquired Streamlit for $800 million, enabling developers and data scientists to build apps using tools with simplified data access and governance.
Streamlit’s open-source framework allows developers and data scientists to build and share data apps quickly and iteratively, without the need to be an expert in front-end development. According to Streamlit, the platform has had more than 8 million downloads and more than 1.5 million applications have been built using it.
“At Snowflake, we believe in bringing together open standards and open source with industry-leading data governance and security,” Snowflake Co-Founder and President of Products Benoit Dageville said in a statement announcing the acquisition. “When Snowflake and Streamlit come together, we will be able to provide developers and data scientists with a single, powerful hub to discover and collaborate with data they can trust to build next generation data apps and shape the future of data science.”
Feb. 28: Rakuten Symphony acquires Kubernetes platform Robin.io
The recently launched telco-focused arm of Japan’s Rakuten Group, Rakuten Symphony, has acquired Robin.io, a startup offering a Kubernetes platform optimized for storage and complex network applications.