Infosys to buy US firm Simplus

Infosys Ltd will acquire Simplus, one of the fastest-growing Salesforce platinum partners in the US and Australia for up to $250 Million. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.

Simplus is a leading provider and advisor in cloud consulting, implementation, data integration, change management and training services for Salesforce quote-to-cash applications with more than 4,500 projects.

This acquisition, along with that of Fluido announced in September 2018, is expected to strengthen Infosys’ position as an end-to-end Salesforce enterprise cloud solutions and services provider, providing clients with the necessary capabilities for cloud-first digital transformation.

The acquisition would also help Infosys expand its geographic presence as Simplus has offices across North America, Sydney, Melbourne, London, and a large delivery centre in Manila. The Infosys the acquisition comes at a time when last week Cognizant too made two strategic acquisitions by acquiring the French operations of Paris-based EI-Technologies and Atlanta-based Code Zero Consulting.

Cognizant acquires EI Technologies, Code Zero Consulting

In a bid to strengthen its salesforce practice, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. has acquired EI Technologies and Code Zero Consulting.

The proposed acquisition would complement Cognizant’s global Salesforce practice and expanding client resources in Europe. The planned acquisition requires advance consultation with the relevant works councils and would be subject to customary closing conditions.

A day earlier, on Tuesday, Cognizant said it acquired Code Zero Consulting, a privately held provider of consulting and implementation services for cloud-based configure-price-quote (CPQ) and billing solutions.

Founded in 2016, Atlanta-based Code Zero specializes in helping companies digitally transform by providing strategy, implementation and migration capabilities to evolve legacy systems to cloud-based CPQ and billing systems. Code Zero is a Salesforce Platinum Partner and includes leading global enterprises among its clients across industries, particularly manufacturing and financial services.

Salesforce to acquire Tableau

Salesforce.com Inc. decided to buy big data firm Tableau Software Inc. for $15.3 Billion, marking the biggest acquisition in the company’s history as it looks to offer more data insights to it's clients.

Seattle-based Tableau has more than 86,000 customers, including tech heavyweights such as Verizon Communications Inc. and Netflix Inc. As part of the all-stock deal, Tableau shareholders will get 1.103 Salesforce shares, valuing the offer at $177.88 per share, representing a premium of 42% to Tableau's Friday closing price.

Salesforce deal comes days after Alphabet Inc. Google bought big-data analytics company Looker for $2.6 billion and surpasses the $5.9 billion that the cloud-based software company paid to buy U.S. software maker MuleSoft in 2018.

Big data analytics is a complex process used to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations; market trends and customer preferences that often help companies make better business decisions. The San Francisco-based company said the deal is likely to add up to $400 million in its 2020 revenue, but would decrease adjusted profit by about 37 cents to 39 cents per share.

Adobe to acquire Marketo

Adobe Systems announced that it is acquiring software maker Marketo for $4.75 Bn in a move widely seen as one of that will strengthen its position in the fiercely competitive cloud computing and marketing tech sector.

The maker of image-editing tool Photoshop said in a statement that the deal would bring together Marketo’s B2B-focused platform with the capabilities of Adobe Experience Cloud that include analytics, content, personalization and advertising.

It also comes just months after Adobe acquired e-commerce specialist Magento for $1.68bn, indicating that the company is highly focused on expanding its presence in the fast-growing cloud sector, which is currently dominated by Microsoft, Oracle and Salesforce.

Adobe and Marketo tools will enable businesses to use a data-driven approach to focus sales and marketing activities on the most valuable prospects and customers, deliver cross-channel experiences and acquire more customers through targeted, account-based advertising.

Cognizant to acquire SaaSfocus

Cognizant will acquire SaaSfocus, a provider of Salesforce consulting services, for an undisclosed amount as the IT major looks to further strengthen its business in the Indian and Australian markets.

SaaSfocus which is privately held offers digital transformation services leveraging the Salesforce platform. It has over 350 Salesforce consultants in Australia and India. The acquisition will help expand Cognizant’s end-to-end digital transformation services and Salesforce cloud capabilities in the region, including India and Australia. Cognizant already offers a wide range of Salesforce solutions.

Combining Cognizant global capabilities, deep domain expertise and digital solutions with SaaSfocus specialized Salesforce consulting competencies will help SaaSfocus accelerate clients digital transformation journeys. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2018, subject to certain closing conditions.

Salesforce buys Mulesoft

Salesforce has signed an agreement to buy data integration vendor MuleSoft for $6.5 Billion as the backbone for a new integration cloud. With more than 1200 client companies in 60 countries, San Francisco based MuleSoft offers a platform for building application networks that connect apps, data and devices.

The acquisition will allow it to unlock data across legacy systems, cloud apps and devices to make smarter, faster decisions and create highly differentiated, connected customer experiences. The new Integration Cloud will offer an Integration-Platform-as-a-Service that is intended to let enterprises access any data anywhere.

The acquisition comes a year after MuleSoft went public and spent the year increasing sales while trying to manage its growing losses. In the company’s fourth quarter, it brought in $88.7 million in sales, which was a 60% bump from the previous year during the same time period. Mulesoft had an operating loss of $25.5 million in its fourth quarter, a nearly 100% jump from the $12.8 million operating loss it recorded in the same quarter of the previous year.

MuleSoft provides one of the world's leading platforms for building application networks that connect enterprise apps, data and devices, across any cloud and on-premise. More than 1,200 customers, including Coca-Cola, Barclays, Unilever and Mount Sinai, rely on MuleSoft to change and innovate faster, deliver differentiated customer experiences, and increase operational efficiency.

Wipro to acquire Appirio

Country’s third largest IT firm Wipro has acquired cloud services company Appirio for $500 Million (around Rs 3,340 crore) in a cash transaction. Once completed, Wipro acquisition of Appirio will create one of the world’s largest cloud transformation practices, a game changer in todays as a service and digital economy.

Post-acquisition, Wipro will also have access to Topcoder, a crowd sourcing marketplace connecting over a million designers, developers and data scientists around the world with customers. Wipro will consolidate its existing cloud applications practices of Salesforce and Workday under the Appirio brand and structure.

Established in 2006, the US based Appirio has offices in Jaipur, San-Francisco, Dublin, London and Tokyo and has 1,250 employees worldwide. It had revenues of $196 Million in 2015 and its clients include brands like Stryker, Robert Half, Johnson Controls, Cardinal Health, Coco-cola, eBay, Facebook, Home Depot, and Sony PlayStation.

In an increasingly digital world, as consumer behaviors and expectations continue to be reshaped by experiences, companies are recognizing that they need to transform how they engage with customers and employees by leveraging the power of Cloud. The acquisition is expected to be closed in the quarter ending 31 December 2016. William Blair & Company acted as financial advisor to Appirio during the transaction.

Mindtree to buy Magnet 360

Mid-size IT services firm Mindtree Ltd has inked a definitive agreement to acquire Magnet 360, a Salesforce.com platinum consulting partner, for $50 Million in cash, in a move at addressing the cloud based services market. The deal amount includes an upfront payment of $37 Million and earns out and additional payout of up to $13 Million over the next two years.

With the acquisition of Magnet 360, Mindtree will add more than 100 certified Salesforce experts and help clients digitize back end values chains. This acquisition will strengthen their offerings in digitizing the value chain and building sense and respond systems. Founded in 2008, Magnet 360 specializes in Multi-clouded solutions providing consulting services and implementation, mainly to media/entertainment, manufacturing and finance industries. It is operational mainly in the US.

The company has been a Salesforce partner since 2004. Salesforce, Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, Marketing Cloud and others are trademarks of Salesforce.com. Magnet 360 works with companies across Salesforce solutions such as CRM, branded sites and communities, social campaign strategy and management and marketing automation. Salesforce had invested in Magnet 360 along with StarTec Investments and Gage Group.

The company is headquartered in Minneapolis with Offices in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Its revenue was about $25 Million in calendar year 2015. Bangalore based Mindtree counts Nalanda Capital, Global Technology Ventures and V G Siddhartha led café Coffee Day Group as its shareholders.

Freshdesk acquires Frilp

Chennai based online customer service provider Freshdesk has acquired Frilp, a social recommendation app for exchanging references and recommendations. Frilp brings users contacts on social networks, phonebook and office network at one place, and helps them find services and businesses recommended by the contacts.

The acquisition will help Freshdesk leverage the technology of Frilp and enable customers to connect with friends on social networks who might provide solutions. This can also bring down the burden on companies customer service teams. Earlier, Freshdesk had acquired 1click, video chat software for an undisclosed amount to provide real time video chat based customer support to its clients.

Frilp was founded in 2012 and has raised $500,000 in funding from angel investors. In six rounds of funding, Freshdesk has so far raised $94 Million from Tiger Global, Google Capital and Accel Partners. Freshdesk competes with Salesforce and Zendesk.