Private Equity
Meta Inc, a Toronto big-data company that uses machine intelligence to solve core research information challenges, has agreed to be acquired by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. No financial terms were released. The acquisition is the first to be made by Chan Zuckerberg, a philanthropic organization launched in 2015 by Mark Zuckerberg and Dr. Priscilla Chan, TechCrunch reported. Meta was founded in 2010 by CEO Sam Molyneux and EVP Amy Molyneux. It was backed by Canadian venture capital firm iGan Partners, which led Meta's seed round in 2014, as well as Rho Canada Ventures, Solina Chau (Horizons Ventures), Everline Investments and angel investors.
3 min read · 23 January 2017
The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has agreed to acquire Toronto-based artificial intelligence startup Meta. No financial terms were disclosed. Meta's backers include iGan Partners, Rho Canada Ventures and Everline Investments.
2 min read · 23 January 2017
Wix.com has agreed to acquire New York City-based Flok, a customer loyalty and engagement platform. No financial terms were disclosed. Flok's backers included General Catalyst Partners and Gemini Israel Ventures.
3 min read · 23 January 2017
China Oceanwide Holdings Group Co Ltd and IDG Capital have agreed to acquire Boston-based tech publisher International Data Group. The transaction includes IDG subsidiaries International Data Corp, IDG Communications and IDG Ventures. No financial terms were disclosed. At the closing of the deal, China Oceanwide will have controlling stake of IDG's operating business, which include IDC and IDG Communications while IDG Capital will have controlling stake of IDG Ventures. The transaction is expected to close in the first quarter of this year. Goldman Sachs provided financial advice to IDG and Citigroup did likewise for China Oceanwide.
6 min read · 19 January 2017
3 min read · 18 January 2017
DataBank, which is backed by Digital Bridge, has agreed to acquire Salt Lake City-backed C7 Data Centers, a data center service provider. No financial terms were disclosed. Stifel provided financial advice to C7 Data Centers on the transaction. C7 was backed by Signal Peak Ventures.
3 min read · 17 January 2017
U.S. publishing technology services company Firebrand Technologies has acquired the assets and brands of Enthrill Distribution Inc, a Canadian provider of digital content distribution technologies for the publishing industry. No financial terms were released. Firebrand said the acquisition will add to its portfolio of ebook delivery and distribution solutions. Calgary-based Enthrill was founded in 2009 by CEO Kevin Franco and Director Wayne Logan. It raised $1.3 million in funding from Canadian venture capital firm AVAC and other investors in August 2014.
2 min read · 16 January 2017
Montréal machine learning platform Maluuba Inc has been acquired by Microsoft Corp for an undisclosed amount. Maluuba, founded in 2011 by CEO Sam Pasupalak and CTO Kaheer Suleman, has developed technology that aims to advance general artificial intelligence by creating literate machines. In a blog statement, the co-founders said the partnership with Microsoft will help bring Maluuba's solutions to market and deliver them to "the billions of consumer and enterprise users that can benefit from the advent of truly intelligent machines." Maluuba raised $12 million in funding, including last year's $9 million Series A round backed by Emerillon Capital, Nautilus Ventures and others.
4 min read · 13 January 2017
Global venture capital topped $100 billion in 2016 for the second year running, with $134 billion supporting 9,717 deals, according to Preqin.
1 min read · 04 January 2017
GreatCall Inc has acquired Healthsense, a provider of passive remote monitoring services for the senior care market. No financial terms were disclosed. Healthsense was backed by Mansa Capital, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Radius Ventures.
3 min read · 20 December 2016
