TripAdvisor acquires SinglePlatform

TripAdvisor, Inc. the world’s largest travel platform has acquired leading menu management company SinglePlatform from Endurance International Group to help the more than five million restaurants listed on TripAdvisor attracts more diners and offers a better guest experience.

Today, 93 percent of diners check menus online before choosing a place to eat, but for restaurants, keeping their menus up to date everywhere on the Internet is challenging and time-consuming process. SinglePlatform works with restaurants to easily publish and manage their menus and other key information such as their business name, opening hours and contact information on main search and discovery sites like Google and Facebook. Upon completion of the integration, restaurants will be able to subscribe to the service and conveniently update their menus across the web, all at one time, directly from the TripAdvisor management center.

TripAdvisor will expand its digital marketing suite for restaurants and soon offer valuable menu and listings management services to restaurant owners globally utilizing the knowledge and network of the SinglePlatform technology. In addition, TripAdvisor will be able to offer a more advanced menu integration to help diners searching on TripAdvisor for restaurants.

TripAdvisor currently offers restaurants free features to respond to diner reviews and update their listing information on its site and app, as well as paid advertising opportunities such as TripAdvisor Ads and TripAdvisor Premium to drive more exposure and traffic to their businesses.

Google acquires CloudSimple

To help customers seamlessly migrate to the Cloud, Google has acquired CloudSimple, a leading provider of secure, high performance, dedicated environments to run VMware workloads in the cloud, for an undisclosed sum.

Santa Clara-based CloudSimple specializes in VMware virtualization software, which helps businesses run corporate networks and business software more efficiently. Through Google's existing partnership with CloudSimple, the customers can migrate their VMware workloads from on-premise data centers directly into Google Cloud VMware Solution by CloudSimple, while also creating new VMware workloads as needed.

With VMware on Google Cloud Platform, customers will be able to leverage all of the familiarity of VMware tools and training, and protect their investments, as they execute on their cloud strategies and rapidly bring new services to market and operate them seamlessly and more securely across a hybrid cloud environment.

Tech Mahindra acquires BORN Group

IT services firm Tech Mahindra Ltd has acquired BORN Group, a New York based digital content and production agency for $95 Million in a cash deal. BORN Group’s services include consulting, content creation, maintenance and hosting services, digital and social marketing, among others. Its clients include Google, Tata, Red Bull and Tag Heuer.

BORN currently has offices in New York City, London, Hong Kong, Singapore and India and employs over 1100 people. The company is owned by private equity firm True North and Zodius Capital. True North acquired a controlling stake in the company in 2011, when it was known as Group FMG. In 2012 Group FMG acquired New York-based creative digital agency Pod1 Inc. The company rebranded itself as BORN Group in 2014.

BORN recorded a revenue of $50 million in calendar year 2018, compared to $39 million and $36 million in the preceding two years. Tech Mahindra Ltd will acquire the Indian subsidiary of Born Group, while Tech Mahindra Pte., the IT firm’s Singapore arm will acquire all other entities of Born, with the transaction expected to close by November 15, 2019.

While the enterprise value of the company has been pegged at $95 million, the transaction also includes a future pay-out of $25 million linked to achievement of financial targets for the financial year ending 31 December 2019.