M&A activity surged in the third quarter, and more momentum is expected in the fourth quarter. Perspectives on end-of-the-year dealmaking.
October 15, 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
Deal Ready: Companies Prepare For Opportunity, as M&A Activity Picks Up in Q4
M&A activity surged in the third quarter, and more momentum is expected in the fourth quarter. Mergers & Acquisitions asked Datasite CEO Rusty Wiley to share the results of the survey and his perspective on end-of-the-year dealmaking. Read more on themiddlemarket.com
Image: Panchenko Vladmir/ Shutterstock.com
Right Time to Sell, Before Taxes Go Up
Some believe that the upcoming election and potential tax law changes will be major drivers of a sharp upswing in middle market M&A activity over the balance of the year. Read more on Middlemarket.com
Image: Enciktepstudio / Shutterstock.com
How Low-Profile VC Firm Sutter Hill Lands Big Exits
Venture capital firm Sutter Hill Ventures has been able to guide its investments to massive exits. In fact, Sutter Hill had two of its portfolio companies go public last month on back-to-back days. . Read more on Crunchbase.com Image: overearth / Shutterstock.com
Cyndx Algos Identify 7,186 Companies Projected to Raise Capital
Platform helps investors accurately pinpoint targets and new clients. Using over 100 alternative data-points, Cyndx's proprietary algorithms generate a comprehensive map of companies that might be in need of capital in the next 6-9 months. Read more on Cyndx.com
Senior-Focused Startups and VCs Reevaluate Elder Care
Over the last 10 years, investment in startups focused on the areas of “elder care” and “home health care” has increased. At the same time, investors are eying new opportunities in the space. Reframing technologies so seniors can live their best life... Read more on Crunchbase.com
Image: lucky business/ Shutterstock.com
Knock and iBuying in US Real Estate Fintech
The SPAC trend continues in the US and Chamath Palihapitiya is one of the leading investors with his IPOA, IPOB...series. The latest Fintech deal was focus on a real estate disruptor, OpenDoor. Read more on Dailyfintech.com
Image: Kanjana Kawfang / Shutterstock.com
Getaround Driving Growth With $140M Series E
Peer-to-peer car-sharing marketplace Getaround has raised $140 million in a Series E round of funding led by Peoplefund. Read more onTechcrunch.com Image: Pavel Vinnik / Shutterstock.com
NASA Loads 14 Companies With $370M For 'Tipping Point' Technologies
OpenView Venture Partners announced that it has closed $450 million for its new, sixth fund. OpenView will continue to focus on business-focused software startups that have between $1 million and $10 million in annual recurring revenue. Techcrunch.com
Calm, maker of a meditation and sleep app, is exploring a new funding round that could more than double the company’s valuation. The San Francisco-based startup has discussed raising about $150 million at a $2.2 billion valuation. Bloomberg.com
Accurics, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based cloud cyber resilience specialist, raised $20m across seed and series A financing raised in the past six months. The Series A round was led by Intel Capital while the seed was led by ClearSky. Finsmes.com
AMC Entertainment may need to raise additional capital either entirely or mostly through equity, its CEO told Reuters , as the cinema operator grapples with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. Fred Katayama reports. Reuters.com
Osmind, a healthcare technology company helping the 22 million Americans who experience treatment-resistant mental health disorders, has aised $2 million in seed funding led by General Catalyst. Crunchbase.com
Polygon.io, an Atlanta, GA-based market data platform that allows developers to interface with the world’s most accurate real-time and historical financial data, raised $6M in Series A financing. The round was led by e.ventures. Finsmes.com
Alfred, a NYC-based end-to-end resident experience company, closed on approximately $42m in new Series C funding. Backers included Spark Capital, prior investors New Enterprise Associates (NEA) and Greystar, and new investor 166 2nd LLC, the family office of Adam Neumann. Finsmes.com
True Ventures, a Palo Alto, Calif., and San Francisco-based company, is taking the wraps off two new funds: it has closed its seventh early-stage fund with $465 million, and capped its fourth opportunity-type fund -- used to back its own breakout portfolio companies -- with $375 million. news.yahoo.com
Augury, a NYC-based AI-based Machine Health solution provider, secured $55m in Series D funding. The round was led by Qumra Capital. Finsmes.com
Vivun, a pre-sales startup announced an $18 million Series A. Accel led the round with participation from existing investor Unusual Ventures. Techcrunch.com
LIVEKINDLY Collective, a plant-based food company based in New York, said it raised $135 million in a venture round to expand its footprint of plant-based alternatives to meat.Blue Horizon led the round. Crunchbase.com
Playbook, aiming to be the Patreon of fitness content, has raised an additional $9.3 million in Series A funding from E.ventures, Michael Ovitz, Abstract, Algae Ventures, Porsche Ventures and FJ Labs. Techcrunch.com
Payrix, the acknowledged industry leader in embedded fintech, today announced an extension of its Series A financing – led by Blue Star Innovation Partners and Providence Strategic Growth. Fintechf.com
Better Choice Company, an animal health and wellness company, today announced the closing of an additional $1.1M of Series F financing, bringing the total amount raised to $18.9M. As part of this financing, Management and Board members funded in excess of $11.3M. VCAonline.com
Brandzooka, a Boulder, Colo.-based self-service programmatic platform for digital advertising, closed $5.6m in Series A funding, bringing its total funding to date to $10.1m. Backers included Mark IV Capital, Lagomaj Capital, Sweet Moose Enterprises, Rockies Venture Fund and Batshit Crazy Ventures. Finsmes.com
Lead Edge Capital, a software-focused venture firm with one office in New York has closed on a $950 million fifth fund from over 500 investors. Techcrunch.com
cove.tool, an Atlanta-based company developing software to optimize building design for sustainability and cost, closed its $5.7m series A funding led by Mucker Capital. Techcrunch.com
Fiveable, an edtech platform that seeks to democratize learning, has secured $2.3 million in venture capital funding to bridge the gap between content and community. The current funding round was led by BBG Ventures. VCNewsdaily.com
RayzeBio, Inc. announced a $45M Series A financing to advance the development of its broad pipeline of targeted radiopharmaceuticals. Co-lead investors venBio Partners and Versant Ventures were joined by Samsara BioCapital. VCnewsdaily.com
Chronometriq Inc., a patient engagement software provider for medical clinics across North America, announced a $5 million growth capital financing from CIBC Innovation Banking. Venturebeat.com
Sanity, which has built a SaaS platform that lets developers create code and systems to manage content, announced a Series A funding of $9.3m from Threshold Ventures and others. Techcrunch.com
Tiltify, a digital fundraising platform, has raised $6.5M in Series A Funding led by Pace Capital. VCnewsdaily.com
PassiveLogic, creators of the first fully autonomous building controls platform, announced the company has received $16 million in Series A funding. Leading the round were venture capital funds Keyframe Capital and Addition. VCAonline.com
LDE Holdings, LLC, a Massachusetts-based adult-use craft cannabis company, announced it has closed $4.9 million in Series A round financing, funded nearly entirely by local investors. VCAOnline.com
Khosla Ventures, the eponymous venture firm helmed by longtime Silicon Valley rainmaker, Vinod Khosla, is raising $1.1 billion for its latest venture fun. Techcrunch.com
Coa, a San Francisco, CA-based online emotional fitness studio for live classes and one-on-one therapy, raised $3m in seed funding led by Crosslink Ventures. Finsmes.com
Finexio, an Orlando, Fla.-based AP payments as a service platform, closed a $23m funding round. The round was led by Medalist Partners. Finsmes.com
Standard Chartered's fintech investment unit SC Ventures has made an undisclosed investment in passwordless authentication outfit Secret Double Octopus. Finextra.com
Instylla, Inc., a Bedford, Mass.-based company developing minimally invasive liquid embolic products designed for use in peripheral vascular embolotherapy, closed a $25.4 million Series B financing from backers including Excelestar Ventures, Catalyst Health Ventures, and Amed Ventures. Finsmes.com
Linear Labs, a Fort Worth, Texas-based smart energy company, raised an additional $6m in funding from multiple backers. Finsmes.com
U.S. & Canada
Deals of the Day: M&A and Strategic Investments
Caesars Entertainment, one of the largest casino operators in the United States, has recently agreed to purchase William Hill, a British based gambling group. Finsmes.com
Bluegem Capital Partners acquired Panzeri Diffusion through its subsidiary Pool Service. When merged, it will form Italy’s third-largest professional haircare group. cosmetics-technology.com
JLL Partners, a New York-based private equity firm, announced today that it has acquired MedeAnalytics, a cloud-based enterprise analytics solutions provider for health systems and health plans. VCAonline.com
Eyemart Express, a leading national value optical retailer and the fastest provider of glasses in the industry, announced that private equity firm Leonard Green & Partners, L.P. has completed a strategic investment in the company. VCAonline.com
BlackBoiler, an Arlington, Va.-based automated contract markup technology provider, secured $3.2m in funding. Backers included a series of strategic investors including agreement cloud company DocuSign. Finsmes.com
SPAC ACTIVITY
Consumer-lending platform and Blackstone Group Inc. portfolio company Finance of America Equity Capital LLC is set to go public with a valuation of $1.9 billion through a blank-check merger. Morningstar.com
Advent Technologies Inc., a fuel cell maker, has agreed to go public through a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC. The deal with AMCI Acquisition Corp. values Advent Technologies at roughly $358 million, including debt. Bloomberg.com
Cyndx International News
BlackRock Invests $188M in UK Electric Vehicle Startup Arrival
British electric vehicle startup Arrival said on Wednesday it has raised $118 million from U.S. funds manager BlackRock Inc. Arrival is focused on development of electric commercial vehicles, including vans and buses. Read more on Finance.yahoo.com
Image: Michael Vi / Shutterstock.com
Why London's Calling for the FinTech Industry
London remains the world’s second-largest financial services market — and a place where every FinTech wants to be...and COVID-19’s pressure has definitely accelerated things in FinTech. Read more on Pymnts.com
Image: ZG Photography / Shutterstock.com
Over 1,000 UK startups collapse due to COVID-19
More than 1,000 of the UK’s high-growth businesses have filed for administration, liquidation or dissolution since lockdown began, according to new research released today by Plexal and Beauhurst. Read more on Yahoo.com Image:PENpics Studio/ Shutterstock.com
Engageli Comes Out of Stealth with $14.5M
Engageli is coming out of stealth with a service that it believes fills that need. A video conferencing tool designed from the ground up more as a digital learning platform, with its own unique take on virtual classrooms. Read more on Yahoo.com
Image: MicroOne / Shutterstock.com
Vienna Emerges as a European Startup Hub
According to Startup Monitor, entrepreneurs have founded more than 2,200 startups in Austria since 2008, with the number of tech companies growing 12% per year since then, significantly faster than the 3% growth rate for traditional companies. Read more on Techcrunch.com
Image: Nok Lek / Shutterstock.com
OurCrowd Keen to Boost UAE's Startup Ecosystem
Global venture investing platform OurCrowd is busy implementing its aggressive growth plans in the UAE as it sees huge synergy between the UAE and Israel's startup ecosystem. Read more on Khaleejtimes.com
Image :RastoSK / Shutterstock.com
About 75% of Indian Startups are Recovering to Pre-Covid Levels
The Tie Delhi-NCR chapter on Wednesday in a report revealed that the Indian startups are now getting back to the pre-COVID levels, on the back of various factors such as their resilience, technology, ecosystem's support, and innovation. Read more onYourstory.com
Image: designium / Shutterstock.com
Europe & Asia Funds & Capital Raising Round Up
Casai, a Mexico City-based hospitality brand that offers living spaces suited for the nomadic generation, raised $48m in Series A funding. This included $23m in equity funding led by Andreessen Horowitz and up to $25m in debt financing from TriplePoint Capital. Finsmes.com
Frontegg, a Tel Aviv-based startup that helps SaaS companies build their products faster by giving them access to enterprise-ready building blocks for often-used features like authentication and notifications, announced that it has raised a $5 million seed round. The round was led by Pitango.Techcrunch.com
Didimo, a leading creator of high-fidelity digital humans, announces €1 million in funding from new investors led by Armilar Venture Partners along with Bright Pixel and PME Investimentos in cooperation with the 200M Co-Investment Fund. Eu-startups.com
Dataloop, a Tel Aviv-based startup that specializes in helping businesses manage the entire data lifecycle for their AI projects, announced that it has now raised a total of $16 million. The Series A round was led by Amiti Ventures. Techcrunch.com
M1 Finance has raised $45 million in a Series C funding round for its "super app" offering automated investing, borrowing and banking products. The round was led by Left Lane Capital. Finextra.com
Seaya Ventures, Spain’s leading VC firm, has announced that its third fund, Seaya Ventures III, has reached a first close of €85 million. With a target size of €125m Seaya aims to invest mainly in top Southern Europe tech companies. Fintechf.com
Wealthsimple Inc. raised C$114 million ($87 million)money from an investor group led by Menlo Park, California-based Technology Crossover Venture, that values it at more than $1 billion, giving it unicorn status. MSN.com
MercadoLibre, which operates platforms for buying and selling goods across Central and South America, is eyeing an investment in Brazil next year that would be bigger than its $716m investment this year, Bloomberg reported. Pymnts.com
Cochlear.ai, a Seoul-based sound recognition startup, announced it has raised $2 million in Series A funding, led by Smilegate Investment, with participation from Shinhan Capital and NAU IB Capital. Techcrunch.com
Brighteye Ventures, the European edtech VC firm, is announcing the $54 million first close of its second fund, bringing total assets under management to over $112 million. Backing primarily comes from unnamed international family offices. Techcrunch.com
vHive, a Herzliya, Israel-based software solution that enables enterprises to digitize their field assets and operations using autonomous drone hives, raised $4m extension to its Series A funding led by Telekom Innovation Pool. Finsmes.com
Wirex, a next-gen payments platform sending waves through the fintech and crypto spaces, raised over €1 million in just 90 minutes and smashed its crowdfunding target by 370%. Nearly 7,000 investors from 94 countries took part. Eu-startups.com
Ori Biotech Ltd, a London, UK-and New Jersey-based cell and gene therapy manufacturing company, closed a $30m Series A financing round. The round was led by Northpond Ventures, alongside Octopus Ventures,
Europe & Asia
Deals of the Day: M&A and Strategic Investments
Brazilian lender Banco BTG Pactual SA is in talks to take over bankrupt ethanol producer Atvos through a capital injection, Brazilian newspaper Valor Economico reported on Wednesday. Reuters.com
Daimler AGand BMW AG are exploring a sale of their jointly owned parking-app business Park Now, working with advisory firm Rothschild & Co. on the potential divestment. Bloomberg.com
Celonis, a German data mining company said it will acquire Czech peer Integromat, to help clients boost efficiency by connecting, automating and scaling business processes. The acquisition is valued at more than $100 million. Reuters.com
Teikametrics, Inc., a Boston, MA-based Marketplace Optimization Platform for Amazon and Walmart, acquired Adjusti.co, an ecommerce market intelligence solution based in Tel Aviv, Israel. The amount of the deal was not disclosed. Finsmes.com
Uniti Group Ltd hiked its takeover offer for OptiComm Ltd on Thursday to A$694.2 million ($495.38 million), nearly 3% higher than pension fund Aware Super’s bid, ratcheting up the battle for the fibre infrastructure provider. Reuters.com
Making the News
The U.S. State Department has submitted a proposal for the Trump administration to add China’s Ant Group to a trade blacklist, according to two people familiar with the matter, before the financial technology firm is slated to go public. Reuters.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.
