mergers and acquisitions

Pop culture toymaker Funko expands into board games with acquisition of Seattle studio

by Nat Levy on February 15, 2019February 14, 2019 at 11:53 pm1 Comment

Funko, the maker of the popular Pop! figurines and other pop culture items, has acquired Seattle board game studio Forrest-Pruzan Creative. The deal brings Funko into the board game world.… Read More

Will Amazon buy Etsy, Kohl’s, or the Seahawks? GeekWire predicts the tech giant’s next big deals

by Nat Levy on February 13, 2019February 13, 2019 at 11:21 amComment

Amazon’s M&A team has gotten off to a busy start in 2019. This week’s announcement that the tech giant plans to acquire mesh WiFi startup eero makes three buys so… Read More

Amazon acquiring mesh WiFi startup eero, doubling down on smart home

by Nat Levy on February 11, 2019February 12, 2019 at 10:48 am1 Comment

Amazon says it will acquire eero, the San Francisco-based maker of mesh home WiFi routers. The deal strengthens Amazon in the smart home arena, an area Amazon has been very… Read More

Microsoft acquires DataSense data analytics platform for schools from edtech company BrightBytes

by Nat Levy on February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 at 9:15 amComment

Microsoft is acquiring the DataSense data analytics platform from San Francisco-based education tech company BrightBytes, aiming to bring data analytics tools to schools around the country. DataSense is a platform… Read More

New filing: Amazon spent $1.65B on acquisitions in 2018, headlined by Ring and PillPack deals

by Nat Levy on February 4, 2019February 4, 2019 at 10:40 amComment

Amazon spent $1.65 billion on acquisitions in 2018, according to a new regulatory filing from the company. That makes it the second most acquisitive year in the company’s history by… Read More

Dropbox acquires HelloSign for $230M, putting it in e-signature competition with DocuSign and Adobe

by Nat Levy on January 28, 2019January 28, 2019 at 8:29 am1 Comment

Dropbox is jumping into the e-signature market with a major acquisition. Dropbox said Monday it is acquiring HelloSign, a document signing and workflow company for $230 million. Dropbox is mostly… Read More

Avalara expands to alcoholic beverage compliance with the acquisition of Compli

by Nat Levy on January 24, 2019January 24, 2019 at 9:06 amComment

Avalara has acquired the “operational assets” of Compli, a California-based company that helps makers of alcoholic beverages comply with government rules and regulations. Compli’s 45 employees will move over to… Read More

Event Calendar

New Tech Mergers & Acquisitions Workshop

by Todd Bishop on November 21, 2018November 21, 2018 at 1:17 pmComment

Join us for an exclusive intimate panel with your peers! Dave Parker, of Seven Peaks and 6 Month Startup will moderate a panel of experts from Bader Martin and Summit… Read More

Microsoft acquires FSLogix to bolster virtual desktop capabilities in Office 365

by Nat Levy on November 19, 2018November 19, 2018 at 10:28 amComment

Microsoft has acquired FSLogix, an Atlanta-based company that cuts down on the effort of setting up virtual desktops for large organizations. In a blog post, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft 365… Read More

Microsoft acquires bot studio XOXCO to boost conversational AI offerings

by Nat Levy on November 14, 2018November 14, 2018 at 10:57 amComment

Microsoft has acquired XOXCO, an Austin-based company that builds bots and conversational artificial intelligence tools, the latest in a series of deals to boost the tech giant’s AI bonafides. XOXCO… Read More

T-Mobile gets shareholder sign off on pending merger with Sprint

by Nat Levy on October 31, 2018November 1, 2018 at 9:50 am 2 Comments

T-Mobile has cleared another hurdle in its pursuit of merging with Sprint to create the “New T-Mobile.” The self-proclaimed Un-carrier said it has gotten shareholder approval to combine with Sprint.… Read More

Video

Rover acquires U.K.-based dog care company DogBuddy, accelerating its European expansion

by Nat Levy on October 30, 2018October 31, 2018 at 1:30 pm1 Comment

Pet-sitting powerhouse Rover has made an acquisition that will help the Seattle company build on its European expansion, first disclosed earlier this year. Rover said it has acquired DogBuddy, a dog… Read More

Microsoft’s fiscal 2019 already ranks among its biggest years for acquisition spending

by Nat Levy on October 27, 2018October 27, 2018 at 11:55 amComment

Just four months into Microsoft’s fiscal year, the company has spent more on acquisitions than it has in many entire years in the past. According to a GeekWire analysis, Microsoft’s… Read More

Expedia acquires 2 startups that make it easier to list apartments on HomeAway

by Nat Levy on October 25, 2018October 25, 2018 at 4:13 pmComment

Expedia Group acquired a pair of companies that make it easier to list apartments on short-term rental sites like Airbnb or the travel giant’s subsidiary HomeAway. Expedia said Thursday it… Read More

European regulators sign off on Microsoft’s $7.5B acquisition of GitHub

by Nat Levy on October 19, 2018October 19, 2018 at 8:16 amComment

Microsoft’s deal to buy GitHub for $7.5 billion cleared a major regulatory hurdle Friday. The European Commission, the regulatory arm of the EU, approved the acquisition without conditions, finding that the… Read More

Microsoft-owned LinkedIn acquires Glint to bolster employee engagement tools

by Nat Levy on October 8, 2018October 8, 2018 at 9:12 amComment

LinkedIn has acquired Glint, a Redwood City, Calif. company that helps organizations get feedback from employees. LinkedIn did not disclose terms of the deal in a blog post announcing the… Read More

Online insurance marketplace QuoteWizard sells to LendingTree in massive $300M deal

by Nat Levy on October 4, 2018October 5, 2018 at 10:09 am1 Comment

Insurance comparison marketplace QuoteWizard has been acquired by LendingTree for $300 million, and the price tag could rise even more should the bootstrapped Seattle startup continue its recent record-setting growth. The deal… Read More

Video

Nest’s digital health ambitions revealed in records from secretive purchase of Seattle startup Senosis

by Nat Levy & Todd Bishop on September 19, 2018September 19, 2018 at 4:50 pm1 Comment

Google-owned Nest has been secretly laying the groundwork for a move into digital health products, a potential new line of business for a company that made its mark in smart… Read More

Tune selling marketing measurement business to Branch, will focus solely on HasOffers software

by Nat Levy on September 10, 2018September 10, 2018 at 7:59 amComment

Tune confirmed that it has sold its Attribution Analytics business, which measures the effectiveness of digital ad campaigns, to mobile marketing company Branch, in a deal that includes nearly a third… Read More

Report: Tune’s mobile marketing measurement business acquired by Facebook partner Branch

by Nat Levy on September 6, 2018September 6, 2018 at 11:06 pmComment

Branch, a mobile marketing company based in Redwood City, Calif., has acquired a major business from Tune, a Seattle startup that builds technology for mobile marketers, app creators, ad agencies… Read More

David’s Bridal acquires digital gift registry startup Blueprint Registry

by Nat Levy on August 29, 2018August 29, 2018 at 11:52 am1 Comment

Wedding retailer David’s Bridal has acquired Blueprint Registry, a Seattle startup that aims to simplify the gift registry process. In a press release, David’s Bridal called the deal an asset… Read More

AdSwerve acquires Seattle-based Analytics Pros for $24M, creating Google marketing powerhouse

by Nat Levy on August 14, 2018August 14, 2018 at 9:20 amComment

Seattle startup Analytics Pros has been acquired by Denver-based AdSwerve, creating a combined 120-person marketing and analytics company that expects to generate more than $100 million in gross revenue this… Read More

Sales automation company Outreach buys Sales Hacker media startup in its first-ever acquisition

by Nat Levy on August 2, 2018August 1, 2018 at 11:35 pmComment

Outreach, just a couple months removed from a massive $65 million funding round, has made the first acquisition in its history. The Seattle-based sales automation company has acquired Sales Hacker,… Read More

DocuSign acquires SpringCM for $220M to continue evolution beyond electronic signatures

by Nat Levy on July 31, 2018August 1, 2018 at 10:40 amComment

DocuSign said it has agreed to acquire SpringCM, a Chicago-based cloud document generation and contract management company, for $220 million in cash. DocuSign says the acquisition will help its growth… Read More

Survey company QuestionPro acquires WorkXO to bolster workplace engagement tools

by Nat Levy on June 7, 2018June 7, 2018 at 10:53 amComment

News Brief: Survey and market research company QuestionPro has acquired WorkXO, a workplace culture company. The acquisition of WorkXO will help QuestionPro evolve its workforce engagement surveys and tools. WorkXO… Read More

Microsoft acquires Semantic Machines to bolster ‘conversational AI’ efforts

by Nat Levy on May 20, 2018May 21, 2018 at 10:23 amComment

Microsoft has acquired Semantic Machines, a “conversational AI” startup in Berkeley, Calif., to further its work in building machines that can converse naturally with humans. Semantic aims to advance the… Read More

Walmart pays $16B for majority stake in India’s Flipkart, escalating Amazon rivalry

by Nat Levy on May 9, 2018May 9, 2018 at 8:10 amComment

Walmart is buying a majority stake in Flipkart, the top online retailer in India, further escalating its battle with Amazon to the global stage. Walmart is paying $16 billion for… Read More

Howard Schultz-backed Gatheredtable’s software assets acquired by Medifast

by Nat Levy on April 20, 2018April 20, 2018 at 10:30 amComment

Gatheredtable, a Seattle startup backed by former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz that aims to make meal planning less stressful, said its software has been acquired by diet and weight loss company… Read More

Here’s how much T-Mobile paid to acquire Layer3 for its upcoming TV service

by Nat Levy on February 8, 2018July 24, 2018 at 6:32 pmComment

T-Mobile paid $325 million for Layer3, the Denver-based company that will form the backbone of the self-proclaimed Un-carrier’s TV service set to launch later this year, according to a filing… Read More

Microsoft acquires Seattle startup PlayFab to bolster cloud offerings for game developers

by Nat Levy on January 29, 2018January 29, 2018 at 12:47 pm1 Comment

Microsoft said it has acquired Seattle gaming startup PlayFab, in a bid to strengthen its position in the more than $100 billion market. PlayFab started four years ago, and it… Read More