Gannett to acquire WordStream

Gannett Co., Inc. has entered into an agreement to acquire WordStream Inc., a provider of cloud-based software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions for local and regional businesses and agencies to optimize their digital marketing services campaigns. The transaction builds upon Gannett existing data-driven digital marketing services, ReachLocal and SweetIQ.

WordStream helps thousands of businesses to harness the power of Google, Facebook and Bing by leveraging its discovery and recommendation technologies, intelligent campaign optimization, and online training programs in its cloud-based SaaS solutions. These Do-It-Yourself (DIY) solutions provide businesses and agencies the ability to manage and optimize performance and results on paid search and social advertising campaigns.

WordStream is a proven innovator and delivers a world-class customer experience. Through WordStream, ReachLocal and SweetIQ, Gannett will now be able to provide the full spectrum of digital marketing services from DIY to managed service to any local or regional business or agency.

The market for digital marketing services in the U.S. is over $90 billion and consists of both large and small clients. The addition of WordStream best-in-class DIY SaaS solutions significantly enhances Gannett capabilities and expands addressable market.

Infibeam to buy Snapdeal’s Unicommerce

Ahmedabad based Infibeam Incorporation Ltd will acquire Snapdeal’s subsidiary Unicommerce, which offers e-commerce enablement software, in a deal worth up to Rs 120 crore.

Last year, Snapdeal dumped a $950-million takeover offer from Flipkart, with Snapdeal founders Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal saying the company will pursue a fresh strategy in the Indian market. As a part of this Snapdeal 2.0 plan, it has sold its payment services unit Freecharge to Axis Bank for Rs385 crore, while its logistics arm—Vulcan Express—was acquired by Kishore Biyani’s Future Supply Chain Solutions in an all-cash deal valued at Rs35 crore.

According to Infibeam’s filing, Unicommerce eSolutions had a net worth of Rs24.63 crore and turnover of Rs20.27 crore as on 31 March. Founded in 2012, Unicommerce offers e-commerce enablement software for warehouse management and omni-channel services and has over 10,000 sellers, brands and online retailers as its clients.

Infibeam operates in e-retailing (Products business) through its flagship website infibeam.com and has Web Services business that covers software development services, web development, maintenance through BuildBazar and access to digital payment gateways amongst others.

Cognizant acquires Hedera Consulting

IT firm Cognizant has acquired privately held Hedera Consulting, a move that will strengthen the former consulting and digital transformation capabilities for clients in Belgium and the Netherlands.

Founded in 2009, Hedera specializes in business advisory and data analytics services across sectors, helping clients in areas like growth strategy, innovation, marketing, sales and customer service. In 2015, Hedera started an additional business line focusing on analytics and data excellence. With offices in Belgium and the Netherlands, the company has served clients across countries including Italy, Switzerland, the Nordics and UK and the Middle East.

By joining forces with Cognizant, Hedera are even better positioned to help clients define their strategy; transform their businesses and gain insight and competitive advantage in their fast-changing, highly competitive marketplaces. Our combined industry and local knowledge and experience, as well as our strong joint team, will better enable our customers in the Belgian and Dutch markets to extract meaning from their data and use it to effectively shape their products, services and experiences.

In the Belgian and Dutch markets, companies are re-designing their business and IT operating models for the digital era. Hedera Consulting expands our ability to help these European clients create agile and digitally transformed enterprises that can act and react to the oceans of data for deeper customer insight, new product development, and to innovate and exploit new business opportunities.

Oracle buys Vocado

Oracle has acquired Vocado, a California based firm that offers student-centric, cloud based financial aid solution for higher education institutions. Post-acquisition, Vocado will be integrated with Oracle Student cloud platform.

Vocado works with thousands of financial aid sources to optimize funding for any type of higher education learning model. The solution helps students identify eligibility and obtain financing so they can achieve their academic goals. Vocado integrates its financial aid solution with both cloud and on-premise Student Information Systems (SIS).

Oracle Student Cloud is the software major’s next-generation, cloud-based SIS designed for all academic models across every stage of the modern student lifecycle. Vocado adds the most advanced financial aid solution with a highly-automated and scalable platform. Together, their solution offers institutions the most complete SaaS solution suite in higher education, the company said in the statement.

This is Oracle’s second acquisition in the month of April. Just a week back the firm announced the acquisition of Grapeshot, an intelligent software solution for the marketers that help them decide their ad inventories. Grapeshot’s Contextual Intelligence Platform enables the rapid creation of highly-customized segments that allow marketers and their agencies to confidently avoid unsafe content that will damage brand equity, and close the loop via Moat Measurement. The platform also helps marketers extend global audience reach by targeting the most relevant context, including late-breaking news and trending themes, to complement Oracle Data Cloud’s custom audience segments.

Adobe acquires Sayspring

Adobe has acquired Sayspring, a startup that helps developer’s prototype and build the voice interfaces for their Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant Apps. All of Sayspring’s services are now available for free — but there is a catch. If you want to sign up for the service now, you’ll need an invite.

Founded in 2017, New-York based Sayspring has technology that makes it easy to design voice applications without coding. The popularity of voice assistants and smart speakers continues to grow. Already, about half of U.S. adults use voice assistants and voice will be a part of every digital interaction within a few years.

Adobe has been working to place voice commands in many of its cloud applications — like Photoshop and the Adobe Marketing Cloud — since the launch of its primary AI service, Sensei, more than a year ago. More than 100 features or services have been rolled out for Sensei since it was introduced in fall 2016, including the ability to track the performance of voice apps and services with Adobe Analytics.

Voicegram, which let Sayspring user’s record and share their conversations with Alexa, has been shut down. The Audio Converter, which used to be a standalone service, will be made part of the Sayspring platform.

Myntra acquires Witworks

Myntra has bought Bengaluru based startup Witworks, a maker of wearable devices, for an undisclosed amount, as the Flipkart owned online fashion retail firm looks to diversify and launch new categories, even as it invests heavily on newer technologies such as Artificial Intelligence.

The latest acquisition effectively allows Myntra to enter the wearable business, even as the retailer is looking to go beyond core fashion and grow sales in categories such as personal care, jewelry and home accessories. In the past five years, Myntra has made at least half a dozen acquisitions, most notably that of smaller rival Jabong, which it bought as part of a cut-price deal of $70 million.

The latest acquisition is an acqui-hire of sorts for Myntra, with the entire team of Witworks being absorbed into Myntra Innovation Labs. In 2016, Witworks launched its flagship device, Blink Watch, which runs on a voice-based platform. Myntra said the latest acquisition will allow the retailer to develop wearable products for its in-house brands.

Myntra has a number of in-house brands or private labels, such as Roadster, Dressberry, Anouk and actor Hrithik Roshan’s HRX brand. Myntra has switched its focus to using its resources to expanding sales faster from trying to turn profitable, while also launching a digital TV channel called Myntra TV on YouTube.

Infosys to acquire WongDoody

IT services firm Infosys Ltd will acquire WongDoody Holding Co., a US based digital creative and consumer insights agency, for a total consideration of up to $75 Million. The move would strengthen the company’s creative, branding and customer experience capabilities.

Previously, Infosys had announced the acquisition of Brilliant Basics, a London-based digital design and customer experience innovator that works with clients across Europe and Middle East. The addition of WongDoody strengthens Infosys’ ability to fulfill the needs of global clients for comprehensive digital transformation solutions required to meet customer demand for next-generation, enhanced customer experiences.

Founded in 1993, WongDoody is headquartered in Seattle and has an office in Los Angeles. It has clients across industries like telecommunications, consumer electronics, healthcare and consumer packaged goods. WongDoody’s expertise in driving innovative creative solutions is already yielding significant results in Infosys’ initial collaborations with clients, and this acquisition will further enhance the company’s capabilities in this space.

Uber acquires Jump

Uber has acquired bike sharing start-up JUMP for an undisclosed amount of money. JUMP was in talks with Uber as well as with investors regarding a potential fundraising round involving Sequoia Capital Mike Moritz. JUMP’s decision to sell to Uber came down to the ability to realize the bike-share company’s vision at a large scale and quickly.

JUMP is best known for operating dockless, pedal-assist bikes. JUMP’s bikes can be legally locked to bike parking racks or the “furniture zone” of sidewalks, which is where you see things like light poles, benches and utility poles. The bikes also come with integrated locks to secure the bikes. Uber’s acquisition of JUMP is not too surprising. In January, Uber partnered with JUMP to launch Uber Bike, which lets Uber riders’ book, JUMP bikes via the Uber app.

Meanwhile, Uber’s international competitors have made similar moves. India-based ride-hailing startup expanded into bicycles in December. Called Ola Pedal, the service is available on a handful of university campuses in India. Then there’s Southeast Asia’s Grab and China’s Didi, which both launched their respective bike-share services this year. Both Didi and Grab have also invested directly in bike-sharing startups Ofo and OBike, respectively.

E-bikes, of course, are not the only way to get around town these days. This year, we’ve seen a number of startups launch electric scooters. While San Francisco is trying to figure out how to regulate them, people are watching closely to see what comes next.

Ola Buys Ridlr

India’s largest cab-hailing firm Ola has bought transportation information provider Ridlr, as it looks to expand its fledgling public transportation business that has become an important battlefront in its fight with arch-rival Uber.

Ola started out as a private cab aggregator in 2011, but it has since added auto rickshaws and yellow taxis. After a slow start, Ola’s auto rickshaw business has become a differentiator for the company against Uber over the past year. With the acquisition of Ridlr, Ola plans to add bus, metro and train ticket bookings on its platform and try and become a hub of urban transportation for customers.

The move to expand its public transportation business is one of Ola’s most ambitious efforts. Cab rides comprise a minuscule part of urban transportation. If Ola can build an early, meaningful lead in bus and train bookings, it will become difficult for Uber to catch up with its local rival. Ola and Uber, both of which count Japan’s SoftBank Group as their largest shareholder, have been locked in an expensive market-share battle.

Since starting out in 2012, Mumbai-based Ridlr had raised $7-8 million in capital. Its last funding round was in July 2016 when Times Internet, Matrix Partners and Qualcomm Ventures invested $6 million in the firm. Ridlr provides data on bus and train routes and prices in 19 cities and allows users to book tickets for public transportation services. It also provides real-time traffic information.

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.

Zensar to acquire Cynosure

Zensar will acquire Cynosure for about $33 Million, a move that will help the Indian IT firm strengthen its play in the insurance vertical. Cynosure focuses on providing Guidewire platform implementation services to Property and Casualty (P&C) insurance carriers and clocked revenues of about $20 million in 2017.

The acquisition will be funded by a mix of internal accruals and external debt. As part of the deal, the entire share capital of Cynosure Interface Solutions (Cynosure India) will be acquired for an amount “not exceeding Rs13 crore”. Zensar Technologies Inc. -- a wholly owned subsidiary of Zensar -- will acquire the entire share capital of Cynosure Inc. for “approximately $31 million and deferred payments.

Cynosure has an offshore development centre in Bengaluru, India. “Cynosure is a Guidewire partner, and is well respected in the market place, making them experts in this area. They bring successful implementations, providing core system modernization with rich customer relationships that will serve as a significant value addition to our offerings.

Wibmo acquires start-up Mypoolin

US-based digital payment company Wibmo Inc. has bought Bengaluru based payment solution provider Mypoolin in a cash and stock deal. The deal was valued above $1 Million and all existing investors will get a combination of stock and cash.

Mypoolin will continue to operate as an Indian subsidiary of Wibmo, but eventually the Bengaluru-based start-up will be integrated with the Wibmo. Incorporated in 2015, Mypoolin provides payment solutions for retail merchants and allows individual users to send and receive money directly from banks. It also provided a feature to split and settle bills with friends using a web interface.

In 2015, Mypoolin raised $250,000 from Qualcomm Ventures, the venture capital arm of the semiconductor maker Qualcomm Inc., Accel Partners, Investopad and many other prominent angel investors. In total the company has raised less than $500,000. On the other hand, Wibmo already has a B2B presence in India and claims to work with private banks in India. The US company plans to use Mypoolin acquisition for expanding its consumer base.

Other acquisitions in the fintech space include The Mobile Wallet, which in January acquired payment platform Trupay for an undisclosed amount. The deal will help TMW expand its payment solutions. In the same month, media conglomerate Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd (BCCL) acquired a stake in a Mumbai-based online lending firm FinReq.

Apple to acquire digital magazine service Texture

Apple had announced it signed an agreement to acquire Texture, the digital magazine subscription service by Next Issue Media LLC, which gives users unlimited access to their favorite titles for one monthly subscription fee.

Texture brings over 200 of the world’s best magazines to life, providing an easy way for users to read high-quality stories and entire issues of their favorite titles. With Texture, users enjoy the magazines they know and love, while discovering new content that fits their passions and interests.

Texture is owned by a consortium of big publishers, as well as private equity firm KKR, which put $50 million into the company in 2015. Texture was first assembled in 2009 and launched in 2012 as Next Issue Media. It was an attempt for big publishers to own their own version of Netflix or Hulu, and give them control of digital distribution instead of being cut out by Apple or Google. It eventually rebranded the service and de-emphasized the concept of magazines. Instead, it pushed the idea that your $10-a-month subscription gets you access to the world’s best articles, curated based on your particular interests.

Since its launch in 2010, Texture has become the leading multi-title subscription service giving users the ability to instantly access some of the most widely read magazines while on the go. In 2016, Texture was chosen by the App Store editorial team for the annual Best Of selections, which celebrate the most innovative apps and games for iOS users.

Amazon buys Smart Doorbell maker Ring

Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to buy video doorbell maker Ring, a deal which will allow the company to expand its home security and in-house delivery services.

Amazon is expected to keep Ring as an independent business; much like it has with its other acquisitions, like Zappos and Twitch. Amazon has been making moves to get into the home security space lately. It partnered with lock manufacturers Kwikset and Yale for its new in-home delivery service. Amazon Key, and recently acquired smart camera Blink.

Ring has raised $443.9 Million so far, and was last valued at $760 Million. This isn't the first time Amazon has partnered with Ring. The e-commerce company previously invested in Ring through its Alexa Fund, which exclusively invests in companies that help scale its Alexa voice technology.

The world’s largest online retailer believes that selling internet-connected gadgets from Kindle e-readers to its new Cloud Cam will spark more shopping on Amazon.com. Ring offers the company a popular consumer electronics brand that it might not have replicated internally. More importantly, Ring’s security devices could work well with Amazon Key, a smart lock and camera system that lets delivery personnel put packages inside a home to avoid theft or, in the case of fresh food, spoiling.

GroupM to acquire The Glitch

WPP owned media agency GroupM has agreed to buy a majority stake in the independent digital creative agency The Glitch, which will retain its branding. The acquisition will strengthen GroupM growth plans by offering its clients access to a wide portfolio of digital marketing services and content solutions.

The Glitch employs 240 people working out of offices in Delhi and Mumbai offering digital, planning and content services. It handles over 30 clients across brand categories with some of its key clients such as video streaming platform Netflix; fast moving consumer goods firm Hindustan Unilever, dating app Tinder and online hospitality firm Oyo Rooms.

GroupM operates WPP’s media agencies including Mindshare, MEC, MediaCom, Wavemaker, Essence and Motivator in India. Its primary purpose is to maximize the performance of WPP’s media agencies by operating as leader and collaborator in trading, content creation, sports, digital, finance, and proprietary tool development. It handles blue chip clients such as consumer goods firm ITC Ltd, telecom firm Vodafone, retail chain Shoppers Stop, auto giant Tata Motors, e-commerce platform Myntra, liquor company Pernod Ricard and Hero MotoCorp Ltd.

In January last year, GroupM acquired a majority stake in the media agency MediaCom India, a joint venture between GroupM India and Sam Balsara, the principal shareholder of the Madison Media group. MediaCom India continues to operate as an independent brand.

Microsoft buys PlayFab

In the latest chapter of GAFAM’s continuing bid to conquer online gaming, Microsoft has acquired PlayFab, which helps game developers launch their titles online more quickly with simplified back-end services. The startup will be integrated into Microsoft’s Azure gaming group. The Seattle based startup had raised around $13 Million in funding from investors.

PlayFab offered game developers a platform to host and operate online games and the analytics tools to help understand and monetize users. The startup helped game developers cut down on the work needed to launch a title widely with infrastructure that could handle a global player base. While this pitch is one that obviously appeals largely to indie developers, the startup also boasted much larger customers, including Disney, NBCUniversal, Rovio and Capcom.

As major tech giants have wised up to the fact that there’s much more to the gaming market than mobile, there’s been an increasing amount of attention paid to the backbone technologies enabling game development and monetization. Microsoft has been more in tune with this than most as they have focused on the company’s Xbox division and its latest console hardware and services.

The company has also been active in more consumer-facing gaming acquisitions like the interactive streaming service Beam just over a year ago and the social virtual reality app AltspaceVR this past fall.

American Express buys Mezi

American Express Co., the New York based credit card issuer, has acquired chatbots firm Mezi, which enables travel related booking over text messages. Mezi will become a subsidiary of American Express after the transaction is completed.

Mezi was started by entrepreneurs Swapnil Shinde and Snehal Shinde, who had earlier founded music streaming app Dhingana and sold it off to Rdio in March 2014. Nexus Ventures Partners is an early investor in Mezi. It put $2.5 million in December 2015 and a part of the company’s $9-million fund-raise in July 2016, which also saw participation from Saama Capital and American Express Ventures, the strategic investment arm of American Express.

After its investment, American Express tested out Mezi’s chat platform for servicing its card customers through an app called AskAmex, which managed customer loyalty programmes and bookings for hotels and restaurants. By November that year, Mezi has pivoted to focus exclusively on travel.

Mezi app allows travellers to message their requests for flights, hotel and restaurant reservations, and also provides recommendations based on user preferences and past interactions on the platform. Mezi will focus on developing its core technologies and enhance its capabilities in digital travel concierge services.

Future Group to acquire Foodworld Supermarkets

Kishore Biyani’s Future Group is believed to be in advanced talks to acquire Foodworld Supermarkets – a grocery store chain prevalent in South India.

If the deal bears fruit, this will be Future Group's sixth acquisition. In the second half of 2017, the firm acquired Hypercity from K Raheja to have a more prominent presence in the western market. The firm already owns Globus Retail, H&R Johnson and Exide Industries, among others.

The firm, by this strategy of aggressively adding stores, will be able to multiply its revenue to Rs 75,000-1 lakh crore by 2021. Future Retail is currently present in 253 cities through 930 stores. The firm plans to double the Easy Day store count to 1,000 within the next 18 months instead of focusing on expanding its major retail Big Bazaar stores.

Foodworld was earlier a division of Spencer & Co., but later became a separate firm in 1999. As of now, it is owned by the two-year old merged entity, Arko Enterprises and Health & Glow Retailing. Last fiscal term, the grocery retailer posted a Rs 2.3 crore profit, which they gained from 36 grocery stores and 121 Health & Glow cosmetic and beauty stores.

Dentsu Aegis Network acquires DWA and HelloWorld

Dentsu Aegis Network has acquired the global B2B digital media and marketing agency DWA. Established in 1996, DWA is headquartered in San Francisco, with eight additional offices around the world. It has also acquired Detroit based HelloWorld a digital marketing solutions provider, focused on promotion and loyalty solutions.

HelloWorld has developed a differentiated practice that links response-driven consumer promotion with loyalty strategies and program execution. The company operates at the intersection of data, technology, and marketing strategy, enabling marketers to more effectively engage consumers and drive desirable emotional and behavioral response.

HelloWorld creates promotional and gamified campaigns to spark interest, loyalty programs to retain and reward, insights-driven communications to continue the brand-consumer conversation, and analytics to optimize marketing execution. Long-standing clients include Coca Cola, Johnson & Johnson, and Microsoft.

DWA applies expertise in ad-tech, real-time insight, and management decision support to a range of integrated, global media including: Programmatic, Search, Social, and Demand Generation. Its approach has delivered success for a diverse group of enterprise clients, including Sprint, NetApp, Cisco, DXC, Salesforce, Oracle and Informatica.

Arrow Electronics to buy Einfochips

New York Stock Exchange listed Arrow Electronics Inc. has agreed to acquire Ahmedabad based product engineering company Einfochips Ltd. On its successful completion, the acquisition will give Arrow access to Einfochips 1,500 Internet of Things (IoT) solution architects and software development resources.

Arrow Electronics is a global provider of products, services and solutions to industrial and commercial users of electronic components and enterprise computing solutions. Shroff, an alumnus of BITS Pilani and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, founded Einfochips in 1994. The company works in the areas of product engineering, device life cycle management, IoT and cloud computing frameworks, intelligent automation and video management.

Before founding Einfochips, Shroff had worked for Intel Corp. and Daisy Systems Corp. in the US. At Intel, he was a part of the 80186 processor design team, and was one of the founding engineers at Daisy Systems. Shroff said that Einfochips was among the first companies in Gujarat to offer employee stock options to its workforce.

Shroff, who is also a trustee at Calorx Foundation that works in the education sector in Gujarat, said his company had created an ecosystem that has moulded more than 5,000 engineers so far and contributed in creating as many as 17 start-ups that have been founded by ex-employees of Einfochips