In keeping with our mission to provide comprehensive advertising analysis, MediaRadar puts together a report of the most important mergers and acquisitions news each week. Stay in the loop, whether you sell advertising space or focus on business development.
This week, Facebook bolstered its machine learning assets by purchasing AI.Reverie. Uber brought Drizly under its wing and Comcast strengthened its international presence by acquiring Masergy.
Facebook quietly buys AI.Reverie
Facebook has completed an acquisition of AI.Reverie, a tech startup that produces synthetic data used for machine learning models.
The buyout was done quietly through a holding company called Dolores Acquisition Sub, Inc., eponymously named after a character from the HBO series WestWorld.
Artificial information developers and engineers may use synthetic data to accelerate machine learning as a stand-in for real data.
Last year AI.Reverie took on a $1.5 million defense contract to build AI algorithms and improve navigation capabilities for the US Air Force. Facebook may be able to use AI.Reverie’s synthetic data to improve computer vision algorithms that detect hate speech and integrate it in virtual reality/augmented reality platforms such as Facebook’s Horizon Workrooms.
Ordering alcohol gets easier—Uber now owns Drizly
Uber Technologies, Inc. announced the completion of its acquisition of alcohol delivery service Drizly for $1.1 billion in cash, including around 18.7 million newly issued shares of Uber common stock.
Drizly will be featured on the UberEats app, but it will also maintain a separate app and website.
Following the deal, Uber announced it is spinning off its cannabis delivery service, Lantern, with new management and a $40 million capital investment from Drizly. Drizly plans to grow and develop independently in the liquor delivery market by capitalizing on Uber’s established network of mobile users.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi noted that on the UberEats app searches for alcohol products have spiked by 200% in the last year.
Comcast Business acquired Masergy Communications
Comcast has completed its acquisition of Masergy, a SD-WAN provider with more than 1,400 customers across 100 countries.
The deal combines Comcast’s advanced networking and Masegry’s services credentials and can be used to grow Comcast’s business with mid-sized and large US organizations, particularly institutions with multi-site global operations.
By integrating Masergy’s technology, Comcast Business customers will be able to manage their international operations and networks more efficiently.
Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
In Other News
Other deals and developments are taking place:
- SumUp, an EU-based provider of sales technology and mobile-powered card readers has completed its $317 million acquisition of FiveStars Loyalty Inc.
- Signet Jewelers Ltd., the world’s largest retailer of diamond jewelry, is acquiring Diamonds Direct in an all-cash deal worth $490 million.
- This week Best Buy signed an agreement to acquire home care and remote monitoring platform Current Health.
- Online used-vehicle retailer Vroom announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire United Auto Credit Corporation (UACC) for $300 million.
- Industrial conglomerate Emerson Electric Co announced plans to merge two of its software business units with smaller rival Aspen Technology, Inc. in a $11 billion deal.
- Software development platform GitLab Inc. debuted its trading on the NASDAQ on Thursday after pricing an initial public offering above the marketed range and raising $801 million.
