Ford is acquiring Autonomic and TransLoc, two of its partners, in deals that will help its new mobility business take shape. The acquisitions follow Ford’s announcement at CES earlier this month that it would be working with Silicon Valley-based Autonomic, a transportation architecture and technology provider, on its forthcoming Transportation Mobility Cloud open platform for cities… Read More
Category: M&A
Sotheby’s acquires Thread Genius to build its image recognition and recommendation tech
Every company today is a tech company, a maxim that was proven out today when one of the world’s oldest and biggest art auction houses acquired an AI startup. Sotheby’s has bought Thread Genius, which has built a set of algorithms that can both instantly identify objects and then recommend images of similar objects to the viewer.
You can see some examples of how it works… Read More
AWS beefs up threat detection with Sqrrl acquisition
AWS has purchased Sqrrl, a Cambridge, Massachusetts security startup with roots in the NSA. The company helps analyze a variety of sources to track and understand security threats quickly using machine learning. The announcement appeared on the Sqrrl home page in note from company CEO Mark Terenzoni. “We’re thrilled to share that Sqrrl has been acquired by Amazon. We will be… Read More
Anti-piracy firm Denuvo acquired by digital security outfit Irdeto
Denuvo’s anti-piracy tech has been divisive in the gaming world, with some complaining that it restricts their gaming habits or prevents modding — but few will dispute that it has been unusually successful in its main goal of preventing piracy. Successful enough, anyway, to be picked up by Irdeto, a broader digital security concern. Read More
Sumo Logic expands security toolset with FactorChain acquisition
When we heard from Sumo Logic last June, the company was announcing a $75 million Series F. Today, they announced they were acquiring FactorChain, a security startup that has raised $3.6 million. The companies would not disclose the purchase pric…
View More Sumo Logic expands security toolset with FactorChain acquisitionInstacart acquires Toronto-based Unata
Instacart has today announced the acquisition of Unata, a Toronto-based company that offers a platform for both grocers and consumers to interact digitally. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Unata’s product, unlike Instacart’s, is a white-label grocery platform, letting grocers anywhere create apps and websites for consumers to order products, complete with coupons,… Read More
Marlin Equity Partners acquires social listening platform Talkwalker
Talkwalker, a cloud-based social media listening platform, announced today that it has been acquired by private equity firm, Marlin Equity Partners. The companies did not share terms of the deal.
“We are not releasing exact details at this stage, but it’s substantial and it will make a big difference to what we will be able to achieve in the coming years,” a Talkwalker… Read More
Verizon acquires autonomous threat detection startup Niddel
Verizon (which owns this publication) announced today that it has acquired Niddel, a startup that bills itself as an autonomous threat detection service. The acquisition price was not disclosed. Niddel’s primary product, Niddel Magnet is a subscription service that uses machine learning to locate infected or compromised machines inside an organization. It works completely autonomously… Read More
Mapbox makes another acquisition to bolster its navigation toolkits
Mapbox, the Softbank-backed developer of mapping applications that competes with Google Maps TomTom and Here, has acquired the intellectual property and developers behind MapZen’s Valhalla project in a bid to strengthen its navigation toolkits. The acquisition, made as Mapzen was winding down, brings the Valhalla development team in-house for a bargain price that Mapbox chief executive… Read More
Microsoft acquires Avere Systems to further hybrid computing mission
In a world shifting to the cloud, Microsoft has carved out a place trying to help companies caught between two worlds — on-prem legacy solutions and the public and private cloud. To help further that hybrid mission, the company announced it was acquiring Avere Systems today for an undisclosed amount. Microsoft describes Avere as “a leading provider of high-performance NFS and… Read More
Apple has a history of choosing cash over startups
Apple has more cash than any other tech company on the planet. Yet, that hasn’t translated into spending on acquisitions. Over the past five years, Apple has spent the least on M&A out of all the “Big Five” most valuable U.S. tech companies. That’s despite the fact that it is estimated to have more than $260 billion in cash and cash equivalents. So, is it buying… Read More
Edge Mobile Payments buys what’s left of Plastc in hopes that there’s still life left in smart cards
The death of Plastc back in April looked to many like the final nail in the smart card coffin. After all, the news came only a few months after the space’s other big player, Coin, called it quits. Of course, the loss of Coin wasn’t totally in vain — the company was ultimately purchased by Fitbit. Now Plastc is getting a second lease on life of sorts. Read More