Motorola Mobility invests in Catch Media

February 25, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Motorola Mobility Holdings, through its strategic investment arm, Motorola Mobility Ventures has made a strategic investment in Catch Media Inc., the provider of a patented licensed digital rights locker platform – Play Anywhere.

Catch Media’s patented registry, tracking, routing and clearinghouse technology, together with its unique post-acquisition license, provides retailers, carriers and consumer electronics vendors the ability to offer their customers legal and convenient access to their digital content from disparate devices – smartphones, tablets, set-tops, connected TVs and other connected devices inside and outside the home.

“Instant and easy access to music and video collections from any device, any place and at any time has become a necessity for consumers,” said Mony Hassid, managing director, Motorola Mobility Ventures. “Catch Media’s innovative B2B platform gives consumers the ubiquitous access they crave while compensating the content owners, content distributors and every other party that contributes to the ecosystem.”

“Teaming up with Motorola Mobility is very exciting for us and adds the support and expertise of a leading vendor for cellular carriers and Cable/Telco operators to the Play Anywhere® ecosystem,” said Yaacov Ben-Yaacov, co-founder and CEO of Catch Media. “Motorola Mobility’s support will enable our platform to be more tightly integrated across their devices.”

Ari Emanuel, Co-CEO of WME Entertainment, a strategic investor in Catch Media and one of the largest and most diversified Hollywood talent agencies, said, “Catch Media stands at the forefront of digital media companies seeking to offer consumers maximum convenience while ensuring that all the stakeholders in the process, including the actors, directors and content owners, share in the revenues generated. Motorola Mobility’s investment and guidance will serve as an important catalyst in the launch of Catch Media’s Play Anywhere services.”

Catch Media’s Play Anywhere system was rolled out with Best Buy Europe in Q4 2010 through a service called “Music Anywhere” offered by The Carphone Warehouse in the UK, and is expected to be rolled out in the U.S. in early 2011 in cooperation with the music industry. Catch Media will continue to work closely with the content industry to offer legal media cloud services that ensure rights holders are compensated as content is consumed across disparate devices.

USA, Libertyville, IL & Beverly Hills, CA

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Teleca acquires SurfKitchen

February 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Mobile services provider Teleca has acquired UK based SurfKitchen. The company, which has approximately 55 employees, helps mobile operators and their partners overcome the discoverability, usability and fulfillment challenges associated with the delivery of mobile applications and services.

The acquisition strengthens Teleca’s ability to offer its products and solutions to the operator market, while SurfKitchen gains access to Teleca&’s global reach, customer portfolio, cost effective services and scale.

SurfKitchen will stay as an independent business unit within the Teleca organisation. The company will focus globally on the operator segment, concentrating on business development, sales & product R&D. SurfKitchen will leverage Teleca’s extensive global services for its customer deployment.

The acquisition fits well into Teleca’s strategy of expanding its mobile software outsourcing services to all relevant industries. In 2009, Teleca created a unit to deliver mobile apps, which has already achieved significant customer wins in the media and entertainment industry. Now through SurfKitchen, Teleca can offer the operator segment significant advantages, including complete end-to-end apps solutions, full content and subscriber management services, more than 80% market coverage, a first-rate partner network and increased competitiveness.

“This acquisition brings together two companies with very complementary skill sets”, says Michel Quazza, Chairman and CEO of SurfKitchen. “We get access to Teleca’s strong presence in the connected devices industry and its extensive partner network, while Teleca can offer its deep knowledge of embedded systems to our operator customers. The result is true end-to-end services that benefit the whole industry and will provide unique differentiation”.

Sweden, Malmö & UK, Berkshire

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HTC makes strategic investment in mobile content delivery services business Saffron Digital

February 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Mobile telecoms firm company HTC is making a strategic investment in London-based mobile content delivery services business Saffron Digital.

Saffron Digital has experienced a successful year with its innovative technology integrated into products and services in Europe by HTC, LG, Paramount Digital Entertainment, Sony Ericsson, T-Mobile and Nokia, among others, and in the US by Samsung. It has entered into partnerships with industry-leading companies such as Microsoft, and Widevine, to ensure that customers are given the best possible video experience across a range of devices.

“HTC’s investment increases our global expansion capabilities and provides us with an opportunity to expand into new markets like Asia and new sectors like games and music delivery,” says Shashi Fernando, CEO of Saffron Digital. “We have grown Saffron Digital into one of the best and most exciting digital service providers in the world and this enables us to take digital content delivery to a new level for our customers around the world.”

Saffron Digital will continue to provide its media and content services to its third party partners, which include device manufacturers, network operators and content providers in 26 countries. The company’s headquarters will remain in London and Los Angeles while its management team will continue unchanged.

Taiwan, Taoyuan & UK, London

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Reply.com acquires mobile app development platform adHUBs

February 9, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Reply.com, the auction marketplace for the acquisition of locally-targeted and category specific customer prospects, has acquired adHUBs, a publisher of mobile applications. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

“Mobile is inherently locally-targeted,” said Reply.com founder and CEO Payam Zamani. “We intend to become the largest provider of locally-targeted, mobile consumer traffic to our advertisers.”

As part of this acquisition Reza Hajebi, a co-founder of adHUBs and former head of Infrastructure Technologies at Yahoo, has joined Reply! as Chief Technology Officer. JP Novin, also a co-founder and CEO of adHUBs, has joined Reply! as Vice President, Mobile, and will lead the company’s mobile strategies.

USA, San Ramon, CA

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TripAdvisor acquires EveryTrail

February 4, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

TripAdvisor, an operating company of Expedia, has acquired EveryTrail. EveryTrail has developed a GPS-enabled publishing platform to create outdoor tours and city guides for mobile devices. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

“Every day, more people are opting to use mobile apps as a way of consuming travel information,” said Adam Medros, vice president of global product for TripAdvisor. “EveryTrail bolsters our continued commitment to grow TripAdvisor’s mobile offering, and enable travelers to access walking tours, city guides and hiking trails directly from their smartphones.”

“Like TripAdvisor, EveryTrail is possible because of a global community of travelers who share their stories every day,” said Joost Schreve, CEO of EveryTrail.  “The mobile platform that we provide lets travelers turn these stories into highly engaging mobile travel guides that help other travelers enjoy their trips even more. We are delighted to join TripAdvisor in this exciting new phase that will give us the ability to bring our tours and guides to TripAdvisor’s 40 million travelers all over the world.”

USA, Newton, MA & Palo Alto, CA

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PostUp acquires UberTwitter, renames company UberMedia

January 25, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

PostUp, the social media platform founded by Internet entrepreneur Bill Gross, has acquired UberMedia, the Twitter client on the BlackBerry platform. PostUp is also changing its company name to UberMedia.

“Twitter has rapidly grown to be the most significant real-time communications medium on the planet,” said Bill Gross, CEO of UberMedia. “Our goal is to be the best partner to Twitter in enhancing the Twitter ecosystem, and to provide innovative ways for Twitter users to share and consume content.”

“When I first built UberTwitter, I never imagined it would grow the way it has, serving millions of users and really impacting the way people communicate,” said Paul McDonald, founder and CEO of UberTwitter. “Working closely with Twitter for the past couple of years has made me even more passionate about real time communication, and I look forward to continuing to work closely with Twitter as part of UberMedia.”

UberMedia is headquartered at Idealab in Pasadena, CA.

USA, Pasadena, CA

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Concur to acquire mobile trip management company TripIt

January 13, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Concur, a provider of integrated travel and expense management solutions, has agreed to acquire privately held TripIt, a mobile trip management company that helps people organize and share their travel plans no matter where they book.

Concur will pay approximately $27 million in cash and approximately $44 million in Concur stock at closing, plus a contingent cash amount settled upon 30 months from closing of up to approximately $38 million, subject to certain adjustments and escrow provisions set forth in the definitive agreement.  As part of the acquisition, Concur will exchange unvested TripIt options into Concur restricted stock units having an aggregate value of approximately $11 million at closing.  All components of consideration bring the total deal value to as much as $120 million.  However, there is no payment of the contingent cash amount if the value of the approximately $44 million of stock consideration issued exceeds approximately $82 million during the 30 month period following closing, subject to limitations.  In addition, individual holders of the approximately $44 million in stock consideration will lose their rights to payment of the contingent cash amount if they sell their holdings of such stock.  Though the payment of the contingent cash amount is uncertain, the maximum contingent cash amount to be paid, if any, at the end of the 30 month period is approximately $38 million.  The contingent cash amount will be recorded as a liability at fair value and marked-to-market each quarter through GAAP earnings. The acquisition of TripIt is expected to close in our second quarter of fiscal 2011 and to be dilutive to our pro forma operating margin for fiscal 2011.  Concur will provide more details in early February at their earnings conference call for the first quarter of fiscal 2011.

Concur was advised by Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC and Fenwick & West LLP, and TripIt was advised by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and Gunderson Dettmer Stough Villeneuve Franklin & Hachigian, LLP on the transaction.

“The advancement of mobile solutions has changed the way business travelers buy, share, manage and expense their travel plans,” said Steve Singh, Concur’s chairman and chief executive officer. “There is a universal need to bring order to the chaos of travel and make life better for business travelers. That is true for both managed and unmanaged travel. Together, we solve challenges along the entire business travel process – from booking, through in-trip activities and sharing trip information, to post-trip expense management and reconciliation. We welcome the entire TripIt team to Concur and look forward to working together to deliver even more value to travelers, our customers and our partners.”

“This is great news for the millions of travelers who trust TripIt as a better way to manage travel and the hundreds of third party developers who are a part of the TripIt API ecosystem. Together with Concur, we can move even faster to realize our vision of making travel easier for even more people and companies around the world,” said Gregg Brockway, TripIt co-founder and president. “It’s also a testament to the passion, hard work, and commitment to excellence the entire TripIt team has demonstrated since day one to be the best at solving tough travel problems to help improve the lives of travelers everywhere.”

USA, Redmond, WA

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Research shows smaller buyouts bounce back in 2010

January 11, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Source – Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School

The total value of smaller private equity buyouts completed during 2010 rose to over £2.5billion, a 150 per cent increase on 2009 levels, according to data from The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard.

The quarterly trend analysis of private equity transactions in the £10 million to £100 million segment produced by Lyceum Capital and Cass Business School shows 68 companies raised an estimated £2,504 million of buyout funding in 2010. This compares with 34 transactions and £1,045 million of funding during the previous 12 months.
The figures provide further evidence that increasing numbers of successful SMEs are seeking private equity investors’ capital and expertise to drive their post-recession expansion plans.

Commenting on the report, Andrew Aylwin, Partner at Lyceum Capital, said: “The long-term investment outlook is positive. There is a bed-rock of SMEs requiring capital to consolidate their performance and complete the transformation into more mature, high-growth enterprises. This growth will ensure the lower mid-market continues to be a highly attractive asset class for private equity investment that is capable of creating consistently strong returns for investors.”

To go to The UK Growth Buyout Dashboard click here

Posted in B2B Services, Broadcasting, Conference/Exhibitions/Events, Consultancy, Content Media, e-Commerce, Energy & Environmental Services, Games, Internet Media, Market Data & Information, Marketing/Advertising, Mobile Apps, Publishers, Research Reports, ~Europe. Leave a Comment »

US information industry M&A report shows deal value and volume Up 36%

January 7, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Berkery Noyes has released its 2010 Information Market M&A Trends Report. The report analyses merger and acquisition activity in the US Information Industry in 2010 and compares it with activity in the three previous years.

Highlights

  • Transaction volume in 2010 surpassed 2009 by 36 percent, climbing to 2,046 transactions.
  • Transaction value has increased by 36 percent as well, with $112 billion in aggregate acquisition value.
  • The median revenue and EBITDA multiple both increased over 2009, with the revenue multiple rising to 1.8 and the EBITDA multiple to 11.2, a 29 percent increase over the 8.7 of 2009.

“Multiples have started to make a return to pre-crisis levels,” said James Berkery, CIO of Berkery Noyes. “There are more deals happening and there are higher valuations. While we’re not at the levels we saw in 2007, I think we’re well on the road to recovery.”

Strategic acquirers have been the most common acquirer in the industry, yet financially sponsored transactions rose 39 percent by value over 2009 while losing 2 percent in volume over 2009. This trend of larger financially sponsored transactions is further evidenced by two of the top seven deals by value this year being made by financial acquirers: Interactive data Corporation’s acquisition by Warbug Pincus and Silver Lake Partners for $3.2 billion and Visma ASA’s acquisition by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. for $1.9 billion.

Google was not only the most active buyer in the information industry in 2010, with 28 acquisitions, but was also the most active buyer from 2007 through 2010, with 48 transactions during that time.

The largest transaction in 2010 was Intel Corporation’s announced acquisition of McAfee, Inc., for $7.55 billion.

To view the full report click here:

USA, New York, NY

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Skype To Acquire Qik

January 6, 2011 — Fusion DigiNet

Skype is to acquire Qik, a provider of mobile video software and services that enable individuals to capture and instantly share video from anywhere. Qik has 60 employees, and is headquartered in Redwood City, California and has an office in Moscow, Russia. The transaction is expected to close in January 2011. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, though it is being reported that Skye are paying $150 million, including an earnout.

Qik was founded in 2006 and offers innovative and flexible solutions to capture and share video with anyone across mobile devices, the web, and desktop platforms. Videos can be shared in real time or stored so moments can be viewed later, allowing for video messaging, sharing and archiving. The Qik service is available across the Android, iPhone, Symbian, Blackberry and Windows Mobile platforms, and comes pre-loaded on a wide variety of mobile handsets through partnerships with handset manufacturers and carriers.

The acquisition of Qik enables Skype to add video recording, sharing and storing capabilities to Skype’s product portfolio. Through this acquisition, Skype will also be able to leverage the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming™ technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.

“The Qik team has delivered exceptional video experiences for its mobile partners and millions of end users across a range of devices,” said Tony Bates, Skype’s Chief Executive Officer. “Skype’s software enables an estimated 25 percent of the world’s international long distance voice calling minutes , and approximately 40 percent of those Skype-to-Skype calls are happening over video. Qik’s deep engineering capabilities and strong mobile relationships will be an impressive complementary fit with Skype.”

“Qik has worked very hard to solve complex problems that allow millions of people everyday to take advantage of sharing their lives with those people who are most important to them,” said Vijay Tella, Chief Executive Officer of Qik. “Joining Skype allows Qik’s team to unite with Skype’s talented team to develop new and innovative products for our customers and partners.”

Luxembourg & USA, Redwood City, CA

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