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, Instacart boosted its capabilities with FoodStorm and Fiverr purchased creative education platform CreativeLive. Thoma Bravo bought the growing business, Stamps.com.
Instacart gained catering platform FoodStorm
Instacart, the on-demand grocery delivery service, announced it’s acquiring FoodStorm, a SaaS order management system (OMS) that provides end-to-end order processing for catering and grocery retailers.
Instacart intends to integrate FoodStorm’s software into its suite of enterprise grocery e-commerce solutions.
The financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.
The deal comes weeks after a group of Instacart workers, independent contractors known as “shoppers,” called on customers to “delete the app,” in response to the company’s treatment.
Fiverr International acquired CreativeLIVE
Fiverr, a platform that connects businesses and shoppers to freelancers, has acquired a Seattle-based online learning company, CreativeLive.
Under the terms of the deal CreativeLive will continue to operate as a standalone organization, and its platform of educational content for various trades including design, business, marketing, photography and other creative and entrepreneurial topics will be available to Fiverr’s freelance users of the platform.
CreativeLive charges either per class, starting around $30 per class, or a monthly fee starting at $39 per month.
Thoma Bravo’s latest purchase is Stamps.com
Software investment firm, Thoma Bravo, has completed its acquisition of Stamps.com, an e-commerce shipping solutions platform.
Thoma Bravo paid a total value of around $6.6 billion for the company; about a 67% premium over the closing share price of Stamps.com when the deal was first announced in July 2021.
Stamps.com’s business has accelerated since 2015 as online shopping has increased. The company will continue to operate as a private business with the added operating capabilities and financial support from Thoma Bravo.
The acquisition is one of several major purchases Thoma Bravo made this year, including buying cloud software company QAD for $2 billion, and security software company Proofpoint Inc. for $12.3 billion.
In Other News
Other highlights from the week include:
- This week gaming and betting Bally’s Corporation completed its $2.7 billion acquisition of Gamesys Group plc, a leading global iGaming operator based in the UK.
- In a somewhat unexpected move Gap Inc. has acquired New York and Tel-Aviv-based start-up Context-Based 4 Casting (CB4).
- Twitter is selling mobile advertising network MoPub to game developer and ad-tech company AppLovin for $1.05 billion in cash.
- Medical device manufacturer Boston Scientific Corp. is acquiring Canada-based medical device maker Baylis Medical Company Inc. for $1.75 billion.
- Pharmaceutical company Merck & Co. announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Acceleron Pharma for $11.5 billion.
- GlobalFoundries, the world’s third-largest semiconductor foundry behind Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing, has filed to go public.
