E.W. Scripps Co SSP.O said it has agreed to buy broadcaster ION Media for $2.65 billion.
September 25, 2020
Cyndx Insights is your daily window to the business world, focusing primarily
on M&A activities, capital markets, and important technology trends.
Daily Insights reports and categorizes financial news from U.S., Europe and Asia for full global insights.
U.S. & Canada
E.W. Scripps Scales Up With $2.56B Berkshire-Backed Deal With ION Media
E.W. Scripps Co SSP.O said on Thursday it has agreed to buy broadcaster ION Media for $2.65 billion as the TV station owner, backed by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc BRKa.N, scales up operations to counter a rise in online streaming. Berkshire will make a $600 million preferred equity investment in Scripps to finance the deal and will receive a warrant to buy up to 23.1 million shares of Scripps.
Read more on Reuters.com Image: Fizkes / Shutterstock.com
Greenlight Now Valued at $1.2B Following $215M Series C
Greenlight Financial Technology helps parents teach children how to save with its app and debit card products. Now the Atlanta-based company has a new cash infusion to do even more while propelling it into unicorn status. The fintech company secured a $1.2 billion valuation after closing on $215 million in Series C funding led by Canapi Ventures and TTV Capital
Read more on Crunchbase.com
Image: courtesy of greenlighcard
IMF: Global Economy Beginning To 'Turn the Corner'
The global economy could be headed for a brighter future than was thought just a few months ago, according to an official with the International Monetary Fund, with better economic data from China than was expected and other economies improving, too. The IMF is set to release its latest World Economic Outlook on Oct. 1
Read more on pymnts.com Image: Kristi Blokhin / Shutterstock.com
Further insights into the top stories...the latest SPACs, UnitedHealth, Coronavirus disruption, KKR buys 1-800 Contacts, Compass Diversified buys BOA Technologies, Warbug Pincus investment in GA Foods and more...
Palantir Could Fetch $22 Billion Price-Tag at its Market Debut Next Week: WSJ
Big-data company Palantir is expected to carry a $22 billion price-tag when it goes public by the end of September, WSJ reported. The data-miner is avoiding a traditional IPO route and instead choosing to go public via a direct listing, the Journal reported. According to WSJ, Palantir's bankers give the company a market valuation of about $22 billion.
The Big Business of NewSpace: Satellites Fueling Space Industry Investment
UBS released a report last year estimating the annual space market to be worth $400 billion, expected to double to $805 billion by 2030. Morgan Stanley has previously put it at $1.1 trillion by 2040. Investors are clearly turning their focus beyond this planet when it comes to looking for new opportunities.
Read more on life.spectator
Image: Vadim Sadovski / Shutterstock.com
The Rise of the 'Device Biometric'
Amid the rising tide of eCommerce and the exponential growth of transactions done online, there are different data points that are emerging that couldn’t be collected before. “Device Biometric,” ties into the behavior displayed as individuals interact with their devices.
Read more on pymnts.com Image: courtesy of pixie.org
UnitedHealth Reportedly in Talks to Buy Pharmacy Startup DivvyDose
Healthcare giant UnitedHealth Group Inc. is in advanced talks to acquire DivvyDose, an online pharmacy startup. UnitedHealth is in discussions to pay about $300 million for Illinois-based DivvyDose, said one of the people, who asked not to be named because the matter is private.
U.S. Firm Valentus to Raise Capital From Credit And Via Digital Currency Sale
U.S. investment firm Valentus Capital Management will raise part of a $250 million credit fund through the public sale of its own unique virtual currency, the company’s top official told Reuters in an interview. The Credit Opportunities Fund I - hopes to raise $50 million through the digital token sale scheduled sometime this year.
Read more on Reuters.com
Image: Phongphan / Shutterstock.com
Amazon Announces Luna Game-Streaming Platform
Amazon launched its own cloud gaming competitor to Google Stadia and Microsoft xCloud . It’s called Luna. Users will be able to stream titles wirelessly without downloading the games and can play across PC, Mac and iOS (via the web). Users in the United States can request early access starting today.
The following capital raises were reported yesterday and this morning:
Turntide Technologies, a Smart motor system developer on a mission to replace all of the traditional motors in the world, brought in $33 million in funding to accelerate its strategy. The new investment includes backing from the Amazon Climate Pledge Fund. Crunchbase.com
Homesome is helping independent grocers offer online ordering and same-day delivery to their customers, and aims to be like Shopify for grocery stores. the San Francisco-based e-commerce platform raised $6.7 million in Series A funding led by Itai Tsiddon. Crunchbase.com
Silo San Francisco-based startup recently raised a $9 million Series A round to further develop its cloud-based platform for streamlining supply chains in the perishable food system. Andreessen Horowitz led this round. Crunchbase.com
American Injectables Inc., a near Tampa Bay, FL-based sterile injectables manufacturing company, secured a commitment for $10m of Series A financing. The investment was made by New Rhein Healthcare Investors. Finsmes.com
Nuvia, a chip startup has raised $240 million to design Arm-based processors for data-centers in a bid to balance energy efficiency and high performance. The second round of funding from Mithril Capital, in partnership with Marvell Technology Group founders. Venturebeat.com
Blueboard, a San Francisco-based rewards and recognition platform that is providing curated experiences that employers can bestow on their employees and top performers. The company closed on a $9.3 million Series A round led by Origin Ventures. Crunchbase.com
Bidgely uses AI solutions to transform utility meter data into business intelligence for utilities and energy retailers who seek to better understand their customers.CIBC Innovation Banking announced a US$8 million growth capital financing for the company. Venturebeat.com
Monte Rosa Therapeutics, a biotechnology company focused on developing precision medicines to degrade disease-causing proteins, announced today the closing of a Series B financing of $96 million. The Series B financing was led by Aisling Capital. vcaonline.com
Whitebox, a startup that manages e-commerce logistics and fulfillment for a variety for brands, has raised $18 million in Series B funding. The Series B was led by Alan Taetle of Noro-Moseley Partners. Techcrunch.com
Camera IQ, a Los Angeles, CA-based augmented reality platform for camera marketing, raised an additional $5m in Series A funding, bringing its total funding raised to-date to over $14m. The round was led by Shasta Ventures. Finsmes.com
Petal netted a $55 million Series C round led by Valar again, which not only led the company’s Series B, but also its $13 million Series A round back in 2018. This Series C round closed in April just after the COVID-19 pandemic got fully underway, and is officially being announced today. Valar led the round. Techcrunch.com
MineralTree, an Accounts Payable (AP) and payments automation solution provider, today announced that it has closed a $50 million Series D investment round with participation from existing investors Great Hill Partners, .406 Ventures, and Eight Roads Ventures. vcaonline.com
Sway Medical, a Tulsa, OK-based mobile neurological assessment company, closed a $4.2M Series A financing. The round was led by Atento Capital and the Oklahoma Life Science Fund. Finsmes.com
ArenaCX, a Raleigh, N.C.-based the customer service marketplace delivering on-demand support to businesses, raised $2m in seed funding. The round was led by Sovereign’s Capital. Finsmes.com
Peterson Ventures, a Salt Lake City, UT-based founder-first seed stage venture firm, raised $65M in capital for its Fund III. Peterson Ventures Fund III will invest $250k-$1M in Seed and Pre-seed stage Consumer and SaaS companies. The firm intends to make approximately 30 investments over the next three years. Finsmes.com
Attunely Inc., a pioneer in deploying machine learning to maximize revenue recovery and enhance the consumer experience, today announced $9 million in financing. The new capital includes an earlier seed round as well as a Series A investment. Investors include: Framework Venture Partners, Anthos Capital, Vulcan Capital. Venturebeat.com
Data Gumbo, industrial blockchain network, today announced the first close in its Series B funding round of $4 million led by new investor L37, a Bay Area and Houston-based venture capital company, with return investments from Equinor Ventures, the venture subsidiary of Equinor, and Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures, the venture subsidiary of Saudi Aramco. Venturebeat.com
Spectrum Labs — which has built algorithms and a set of APIs that can be used to moderate, track, flag and ultimately stop harassment, hate speech, radicalization and some 40 other profiles of toxic behavior, in English as well as multiple other languages — has raised $10 million in a Series A round of funding. The funding is being led by Greycroft. Techcrunch.com
American Injectables Inc., a sterile injectables manufacturing company located near Tampa Bay, FL, secured a commitment for $10 million of Series A financing from New Rhein Healthcare Investors. vcaonline.com
IONpath, Inc., the leader in high-definition spatial proteomics, today announced the close of a $18 million Series B financing led by Samsara BioCapital, and included participation from new investor Bruker Corporation. vcaonline.com
Babson Diagnostics, a transformative medical technology company, announced today it closed $13.7 million in cumulative Series A funding, led by Siemens Healthineers, Prism Ventures, Genesis Merchant Capital, and Lago Consulting Group. vcnewsdaily.com
DiRx Inc., a Monroe, NJ-based digital health company, provide U.S. consumers with direct access to generic Rx medications through a cash-based subscription pharmacy model. closed a $5m seed funding round. Backers included healthcare-specialized US investors. finsmes.com
Fulcrum, a Minneapolis-based Software-as-a-Service platform for manufacturers to optimize sales, purchasing, job scheduling, tracking, fulfillment raised $3.1m in seed funding led by Chicago-based Motivate Ventures. Finsmes.com
SketchyMedical, a leading online education company that teaches complex concepts through visual memory techniques, today announced it has received a majority-stake investment of $30 million from TCG. vcaonline.com
NeuroTherapia, Inc., a Cleveland-based clinical-stage company focused on developing therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, closed its Series A financing of $8.8M. The round was led by Brain Trust Accelerator Fund II. finsmes.com
Willow, a Mountain View, CA-based femtech company, raised an additional $55m in funding. Backers included NEA, Meritech Capital Partners, Lightstone Ventures, new investor Perceptive Advisors and others. finsmes.com
Cerby, a San Francisco, CA-based cybersecurity company focused on enabling enterprises harness Shadow IT, raised $3.5M in seed funding round led by Bowery Capital with participation from AV8 Ventures, Global Founders Capital, and the Incubate Fund US. finsmes.com
U.S. & Canada
Deals of the Day: M&A and Strategic Investments
Accenture (NYSE: ACN) is to acquire N3, an Atlanta, GA-based tech-driven sales and demand-generation firm that enables clients to drive sales growth in a virtual environment. The amount of the deal, whose completion is subject to customary closing conditions, was not disclosed. Finsmes.com
Airship has acquired mobile commerce startup ReplyBuy. The startup (which was a finalist at TechCrunch’s 1st and Future competition in 2016) works with customers like entertainment venues and professional and college sports teams to send messages and sell tickets to fans via SMS. Techcrunch.com
Vector Capital, a leading private equity firm specializing in transformational investments in established technology businesses, today announced its investment in Patron Technology (“Patron”), a premier event technology platform. vcaonline.com
Cyndx International News - Europe & Asia
Buffett-Following Investment Trust to list in London
An investment trust following the principles of veteran U.S. investor Warren Buffett is to list in London, the trust said on Friday. Buffettology Smaller Companies Investment Trust intends to raise a minimum of 100 million pounds ($127.52 million) via an initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange, it said in a statement.
European Commission to Appeal Decision that Reversed Apple's $15B State Aid Tax Bill in Ireland
It’s not over until it’s over for Apple and its ongoing tax headache in Europe. Today the European Commission announced that it plans to appeal the July 2020 ruling that overturned the original $15 billion fine that it leveled against Apple and Ireland over State Aid and taxes, as it believes the General Court “made a number of errors of law”.
Read more on Techcrunch.com Image: jamesteohart / Shutterstock.com
Vodafone in Talks to Buy MasMovil
Mobile telephone operator Vodafone has started talks to buy Spanish rival MasMovil with the three buyout funds who recently took it over, El Economista newspaper reported on Friday. The deal could value MasMovil at 6 billion euros ($7 billion), including debt, El Economista said.
Read more on Reuters.com
Image: C.Nass / Shutterstock.com
ClearBank and Tide Granted £25M to Help UK SMEs
ClearBank and Tide, the business banking platform, have been awarded £25m to help UK SMEs turn recovery from the coronavirus crisis into a growth opportunity. The funding will be used to provide financial support and products to help SMEs address the challenges they will face in the post-coronavirus and post-Brexit economic environment.
Read more on UKTech.news
Image: alice-photo / Shutterstock.com
London Has Almost Caught Up With NY as the World's Number 1 Financial Center
The most recent edition of the Global Financial Centres Index, compiled by consultancy firm Z/Yen, and the China Development Institute, showed London held on to the number two spot, showing no change since March, but its rating increased by 24 points. New York still ranked first, followed by London, Shanghai, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Read more on marketsinsider Image: courtesy of Freeletics
Veolia to Improve Offer to Buy Engie's 29.9% Stake in Suez
Veolia last month offered 2.9 billion euros ($3.39 billion)for Engie’s stake in Suez. French utility Veolia VIE.PA will improve its offer to buy Engie's ENGIE.PA 29.9% stake in rival Suez SEVI.PA, CEO Antoine Frerot said on Friday.
Read more on Reuters.com
Image: Robson90 / Shutterstock.com
Spotify CEO Daniel EK Pledges $1Bn of His Wealth To Back Deeptech Startups From Europe
At an online event today, Daniel Ek, the founder of Spotify, said he would invest 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) of his personal fortune in deeptech “moonshot projects”, spread across the next 10 years. Ek indicated that he was referring to machine learning, biotechnology, materials sciences and energy as the sectors he’d like to invest in.
Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: courtesy of wikimedia commons
Europe & Asia Funds & Capital Raising Round Up
The following capital raises were reported yesterday and this morning:
ShareChat, an Indian social network that focuses entirely on serving users in non-English languages, has raised $40 million from a clutch of investors after the Indian startup added tens of millions of new users in recent months. Existing investors Twitter, SAIF Partners, Lightspeed Ventures and India Quotient financed the new round. Techcrunch.com
Rephrase.ai, a Bangalore-based startup with a vision for reshaping how movies and videos are made wants to build an engine that can take any script as input and create a professional movie, with no filming required. The company has raised $1.5 million in seed funding led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and AV8 Ventures. Techcrunch.com
Yummy Corporation, which claims to be the largest cloud kitchen management company in Indonesia, has raised $12 million in Series B funding, led by SoftBank Ventures Asia. Techcrunch.com
Innovate UK has awarded £50,000 to TutorHero, a revolutionary machine learning tutoring tool designed to help students catch up on lost learning during lockdown. uktech.news
Tribu News, which aims to help families easily send news and connect with their grandparents, has raised €700K from both new and existing investors. The startup saw its subscription sales explode in the midst of the health crisis. eu-startups.com
Layerise, a Danish startup which fills the gap that exists between the end user and the manufacturer of physical products,has raised €1.1 million from German VC E.ventures, Falcon.io founder Ulrik Bo Larsen and Danish VC Heartcore. eu-startups.com
Europe & Asia
Deals of the Day: M&A and Strategic Investments
DeepCode, a Switzerland-based machine learning code review startup which bills itself as “Grammarly for coders” — has been acquired by Snyk, a post-unicorn valuation cybersecurity startup focused on helping developers secure their code. Techcrunch.com
Reliance Industries Ltd, controlled by Asia’s richest man Mukesh Ambani, has raised 1.65 trillion rupees ($22.43 billion) over the past few months through stake sales at its digital unit Jio Platforms and its retail arm Reliance Retail Ventures. Reuters.com
Ant Group, owner of China’s ubiquitous mobile payment app Alipay, launched a blockchain-powered platform for cross-border trade settlements on Friday, as it races to launch more technology products ahead of its blockbuster IPO. Reuters.com
Making the News
The following stories have made financial news:
Investors who profited from Bernard Madoff’s massive Ponzi scheme even though they knew nothing of it must still pay back their profits, an appeals court decided Thursday. NBCnews.com
SEC announces settlement of charges against BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY) for disclosing inaccurate and misleading monthly retail sales volume to bond investors. The violating companies BMW AG, BMW NA and BMW US Capital agreed to pay a joint penalty of $18M. seekingalpha.com
Cyndx makes it faster and easier for investors and companies
seeking growth opportunities to find one another.
We offer the best search tools for acquisition targeting or
capital raising across any industry.
