Trig Social Media AB acquires 40 % of the shares of Spanish company Filmquity S L

Trig Social Media AB, a Swedish company which develops, manages and operates an international social media platform under the brand trig.com has acquired 40 % of the shares of the Spanish company Filmquity S L.

The acquisition will give TRIG direct access to the members of the streaming platform TUCUT, that is owned by Filmquity. TUCUT will integrate its services with TrigTV and widen Trig TV’s supply of user engagement content. The purchase price is €3 million which will be paid in full through a new issue of shares in Trig Social Media AB valued at €2,85 per share. The whole purchase sum will be contributed as equity into Filmquity. The new issued shares are subject to certain sales restriction that restrict sales to a limited number per month. The equity injection will enable TUCUT to expand its supply of content with resulting user growth.

“We look forward to our future cooperation. TUCUT will assist TrigTV in bringing relevant and interesting content to our fast growing Spanish speaking community”, says Sabinije von Gaffke, Creative Director of TrigTV.

Sweden, Stockholm & Spain

Yahoo to acquire Flurry

YahooYahoo has acquired Flurry. Flurry is a mobile analytics, monetisation, and advertising company founded in 2005. The company develops and markets a platform for analysing consumer interactions with mobile applications, solutions for marketers to advertise in-apps, as well as a service for applying monetisation structures to mobile apps. The Flurry team will remain in their present locations.The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

flurryYahoo said that the acquisition will mean Flurry will have resources to speed up the delivery of platforms that help developers build better apps, reach the right users, and explore new revenue opportunities. Together, the companies can make mobile experiences better through products that are more personalised and more inspiring.

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & San Franciso, CA

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Keywords Studios acquires Babel Media

Keywords Studios, the  technical services provider to the video games industry, has acquired Babel Media Ltd, a  provider of outsourced video games services with operations in the UK, Canada and India, from Quatrro Global Services Pvt. Ltd. and The D. E. Shaw Group.

Keywords Studios is paying the sellers and settling the financing obligations of Babel to a total of £5.369 million. £2,215 million is payable through  the issue of 1,516,944 new shares in Keywords Studios at a price of 145.994 pence per share and £3,154 million in cash to settle debts.

The unaudited management accounts for the 10 months to 31 January 2014 show Babel has achieved revenues of £6.4m and EBITDA of £0.4m; it has net assets of £1.44m after adjusting for the loans being repaid. Babel was founded in 1999.

Andrew Day, Chief Executive of Keywords Studios, commented, “The acquisition of Babel brings together two of the leading video games testing and localisation providers, firmly establishing Keywords as the market leader in its field, with operations across Dublin, Rome, Montreal, Seattle, Tokyo and now in New Delhi.”

UK, London & Ireland, Dublin & New Delhi, India & Montreal, Canada.

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Groupon acquires online flash fashion retailer ideeli for $43 million

grouponGroupon has acquired ideeli, an online flash fashion retailer for $43 million in cash.

Ideeli provides its  of members with access to leading brands in women’s and men’s apparel and accessories and home decor at discount prices. Founded in 2007 and based in New York, ideeli is one of the largest independent fashion flash sites.

“We are thrilled to add ideeli and their team to our company,” said Groupon CEO Eric Lefkofsky. “Ideeli extends our fashion presence and brings great relationships with many of the top brands in apparel. Our customers have a ideeli[1]demonstrated appetite for these offers, and by broadening our reach in this space Groupon is even better positioned as the place you start when you want to do or buy just about anything, anytime, anywhere.”

Ideeli will maintain its headquarters in New York and will continue to operate as a separate website.

USA, Chicago, IL & New York, NY

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Yahoo acquires Aviate

Yahoo has acquired Aviate, a startup produces an app, which is still in beta, to organises the apps on the home screen of Android devices. Aviate is the first product from San Francisco-based startup ThumbsUp Labs. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition was announced by Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer during her keynote speech at the 2014 International CES.

You can see Mayer’s keynote speech here.

Aviate

Talking about the acquisition, Mayer said, “It is no secret we are amidst a massive and continuing shift to mobile,” Mayer said onstage at one of the world’s largest tech events. “But the shift is not just about proliferation, it’s also about how much time we are spending on phones. Weather, mail, finance, news — mobile puts them in your pocket and makes them a daily habit. We acquired Aviate because we believe home screens should be smarter and more personalised.”

It is Yahoo’s first acquisition announcement of 2014. Yahoo acquired 28 startups in 2013.

USA, Sunnyvale, CA & Palo Alto, CA

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Viggle Acquires Wetpaint

viggleViggle, the television and music loyalty service launched in 2012, has acquired Wetpaint, an entertainment media and technology company focused on television fans, for approximately $30 million in cash and stock.

Wetpaint provides original content to over 12 million monthly unique users and provides a way for fans to stay connected with celebrities and TV shows.

“Wetpaint is the perfect complement to our business for users, TV network partners and advertisers,” said Greg wetpaintConsiglio, President and COO of Viggle. “This combined company brings together Viggle’s proven promotion, entertainment rewards and monetization capabilities with Wetpaint’s reach, social distribution technologies and best-in-class content. Wetpaint leverages the power of social media to ensure TV fans are getting the latest news and commentary about the shows they love, and enables us to expand our offering to before, during and after the show airs.”

For marketers, this acquisition creates significant opportunities to reach a passionate audience with targeted messages across an “always on” entertainment experience that now includes multiple touch points and platforms. Marketers already benefit from Viggle’s extensive reward program, as well as in-app advertising, and that will now be extended through Wetpaint’s online content and social media streams.

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USA, New York, NY

Sold sold to Dropbox

soldAccording to an announcement on the Sold website, seven month old Sold has been acquired by Dropbox and has closed its service. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company was forecasting $1 million in annual revenue

Sold was a service and iOS/Android app that simplified selling online by taking over the whole process. They handled handled the selling, the shipping, and the payment.

Sold was backed will $1.2 million from investors. Advisors and investors included Google Ventures, Greylock Partners, Matrix Partners, Boston Seed, Dharmesh and MIT Media Lab.

The announcement

Hi, friends! We’re very excited to announce that Sold has joined Dropbox! As of today, our service will no longer be accepting new items.

We’d like to sincerely thank all of our loyal friends and customers who have helped us, supported us, and spread the love for us through this amazing endeavor. We started Sold to provide people with a service that took the burden of selling off their shoulders – by doing all the dirty work for them.

But even beyond that, we wanted to create something that affected people in a positive way. Something they had an emotional connection with. Something they trusted. After spending time with Drew and Arash, we decided that the move to Dropbox couldn’t be better – their roadmap includes exciting new experiences which align perfectly with our ethos of creating products that positively affect people. Going forward, the Sold team will continue working together to build these experiences, shaping the future of Dropbox for their 200M strong user base. It’s an opportunity too good to pass up.

We’re really excited for the new set of challenges ahead, and are absolutely dedicated to continuing to create great experiences.

If you’re a current user with items in the system, expect to hear from us with instructions on how to proceed and finish your transaction.

Thank you, thank you, thank you,

-The Team at Sold

USA, San Francisco, CA & Boston, MA

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Snapchat rejects a $3 billion cash offer from Facebook

snapchatAccording to the Wall Street Journal, Snapchat, a business that has no sales, has rejected an all-cash offer from Facebook Inc. for close to $3 billion.

Snapchat is a smartphone app that enables users to take photos, record videos, add text and drawings, and send them to a controlled list of recipients. These sent photographs and videos are known as “Snaps”  disappear in 10 seconds or less after opening.

Snapchat has also been approached by other investors and potential acquirers. Chinese Internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. had offered to lead an investment that would value Snapchat at $4 billion.

Snapchat Inc. co-founder Evan Spiegel thinks that users numbers will continue to grow rapidly and his company can get an even higher valuation. He is said not to be interested in selling the business before 2014.

Snapchat raised $80 million in a second round of funding led by Institutional Venture Partners in June 2013.

USA, Los Angeles, CA & Menlo Park, CA

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WPP acquires app creator Bottle Rocket

wppWPP is to acquire Bottle Rocket, a company that creates iPhone, iPad and Android apps for leading brands. The agency will work horizontally with other operating companies across WPP. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

bottle rocketFounded in 2008, Bottle Rocket’s unaudited revenue for the previous twelve months ended September 2013 was US $17 million. Clients include NPR, Scripps Networks, ABC News, National Geographic and NBC Universal. Based in Dallas, Texas, the company has grown from about 45 employees in 2011 to 170 today.

UK, London & USA, Dallas, TX

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i.TV acquires GetGlue

i-tvi.TV, maker of mobile TV guide apps, has acquired GetGlue, the maker of the GetGlue app for TV, movies and sports. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.

getglue“GetGlue has built an impressive product with a highly engaged audience,” said i.TV CEO, Brad Pelo. “With over 4.5 million registered users, GetGlue delivers over 1 billion social impressions every month to 100 million unique Facebook and Twitter users. With this kind of reach, it’s no wonder more than 75 TV networks partner with GetGlue to engage with their fans, and 30 media companies integrate with the GetGlue API. i.TV’s own platform of second screen services power experiences for brands like Nintendo, AOL, Huffington Post, TELUS and i.TV’s own leading TV guide application. Together, i.TV and GetGlue will reshape the social TV and second screen landscape.”

i.TV will continue to build and grow GetGlue as an independent product, while enabling GetGlue to benefit from i.TV’s platform of partners and services. GetGlue will maintain its New York City presence.

In January 2013, DigiNet reported that an $80 million acquisition of GetGlue by Viggle had been terminated.

USA, New York, NY & Provo, UT

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