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, Accenture gained Callisto Integration. Intel purchased Moovit, positioning itself to compete with Waze, an Alphabet-owned company. Zoom responds to security issues provoked by COVID-19 by acquiring Keybase.
Accenture acquires Callisto Integration
The Irish-based professional services company, Accenture, has acquired Callisto Integration in a move to further their goal of offering more efficient, automated systems to clients.
Callisto Integration is a provider of consulting and technology services that focuses on the design and implementation of automated systems which operate through the industrial internet of things (IoT).
Accenture has integrated the 160 Callisto employees as part of their Industry x.0 service, which integrates clients’ digital technologies into their production processes. Included in the acquisition is Callisto’s subsidiary, MeasureTek, an agricultural IoT company that provides digital field and irrigation monitoring services. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
Intel purchases transportation app Moovit
Tech giant Intel, has acquired Moovit, a transportation and urban mobility app for approximately $900 million.
Intel has integrated Moovit in its subsidiary Mobileye, which monitors road traffic “with the belief that vision-safety technology will make our roads safer.” Mobileye supplies software for Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) used in self-driving cars.
Intel initially invested in Moovit in 2018 and believes the market for the types of mobility services Moovit provides, along with Mobileye’s technology, may reach $230 billion annually by 2030.
Gaining Moovit will help Intel compete in the market with large players such as Waze, an Alphabet-owned company. Moovit currently has 800 million users.
Zoom acquires Keybase to repair security issues
The videoconferencing app, Zoom, has acquired Keybase, an encryption software company to help patch security issues which have been exposed by the massive increase of Zoom users in the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic.
In April, Zoom received a class-action lawsuit over privacy issues. Zoom is incorporating Keybase, a 25-person start-up based in New York, to patch up holes in its software which have been exploited by hackers who allegedly break into private conference calls in a practice called “Zoombombing.”
Once Keybase has been fully integrated into Zoom, users can select an end-to-end encryption option for their video conferences, which will prevent anyone from calling in by phone and disable cloud-based recording of the chat. The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.
In Other News
Here are some other developments from this past week:
- Nvidia, a tech company which specializes in computer graphics for the gaming market, is acquiring Cumulus Networks as a part of its strategy to grow into the data center networking industry.
- IT services and consulting giant Cognizant announced that it is acquiring Collaborative Solutions, an enterprise cloud consulting services company specializing in Workday cloud applications for finance and human resources.
- Swedish cloud communications firm Sinch AB announced that it is acquiring SAP Digital Interconnect (SDI), a cloud-communications unit within SAP SE, for $245.8 million in a cash and debt-free deal.
- According to Globes, Microsoft Corporation is close to acquiring Israeli-based cybersecurity firm CyberX for $165 million.
- According to Sky News, Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM) is in talks to acquire a big portfolio of company stakes from asset manager Invesco as it tries to offload illiquid holdings that lost value due to the coronavirus pandemic.
