Plus: Canadian SaaS companies have acquisition fever.
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AppDirect acquires ADCom’s network operations centre, monitoring platform to launch managed services suite (BETAKIT)
Montréal-founded, San Francisco-based company AppDirect is launching a suite of managed network and infrastructure services with products it acquired from United States managed services provider ADCom Solutions.
In this deal, AppDirect acquired two of ADCom’s main businesses: its enterprise monitoring and management platform VEEUE, as well as its network operations centre (NOC).
Farmers Edge announces 20 per cent workforce cut, new virtual model in effort to slash costs (THE LOGIC)
Farmers Edge has cut its workforce, closed its Australia office and switched to remote service offerings as it looks to reverse negative cash flows. So far, turnaround CEO Vibhore Arora has managed to change the trajectory of negative EBITDA and cash flows, but revenues continue to decline as subscribers abandon the Farmers Edge platform.
EventMobi acquires US-based virtual events platform Run The World (BETAKIT)
In a deal during an interesting time for the competitive event tech space, Toronto-based event management software company EventMobi has purchased Silicon Valley’s Run The World.
EventMobi offers an end-to-end platform for virtual, hybrid, and in-person events, while Run The World describes itself as a “one-stop solution” for virtual social gatherings, webinars, and conferences.
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Syntellis, an enterprise performance management provider, sells for $1.25B (TECHCRUNCH)
Roper Technologies, a company that creates engineering products for niche markets, this morning announced that it acquired Syntellis Performance Solutions, a provider of enterprise performance management software, for $1.25 billion.
The transaction will result in Syntellis’ performance management and data solutions being combined with Roper’s healthcare finance planning and decision support business.
After only four years in market, OMERS Ventures is pulling out of Europe to focus on North America (BETAKIT)
Pulling out of the European market, OMERS Ventures has opted to refocus its investment efforts on Canada and the United States (US) amid the market downturn.
The retreat comes just four years after OMERS Ventures began ramping up its focus on the region with a €300-million fund for European startups followed closely by its first $750-million USD transatlantic fund.
Going forward, the majority of OMERS Ventures’ new investments will be in North American firms, where it also plans to open a new New York office.
Nobody Beats Wiz: Meet The Hyper-Aggressive, $10 Billion Startup Shaking Up Cloud Security (FORBES)
$200 million in sales. A $10 billion valuation. New billionaire Assaf Rappaport has built Wiz into one of software’s fastest-growing startups ever. But the CEO’s ultra-competitive approach is leaving singed eyebrows.
Rappaport’s the man of the hour because he’s catching two waves—the cloud and AI—with his security tools, and doing so faster than anyone.
Niricson closes $10-million Series A to monitor critical infrastructure using tech (BETAKIT)
Victoria-based software startup Niricson has secured over $10 million CAD in Series A financing to assess the condition of aging infrastructure with predictive analytics.
Leveraging artificial intelligence (AI), Niricson’s software aims to paint a more objective and cost-effective picture for infrastructure asset managers and civil engineers, helping them assess damage, plan maintenance, and ensure safety.
Zoom rewrites its policies to make clear that your videos aren’t used to train AI tools (THE VERGE)
Earlier this week, Zoom faced scrutiny after updating its terms of service to state that users “consent” to the use of their “service generated data” being used on training artifical intelligence models.
Now, Zoom has updated its terms of service and reworded a blog post explaining the recent terms of service changes, explicitly stating that “communications-like” customer data isn’t being used to train artificial intelligence models.
1Password only Canadian company to crack Bessemer, Salesforce Ventures’ 2023 Cloud 100 list (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based 1Password is the only Canadian company featured in this year’s Cloud 100 list.
The list is a ranking of global private cloud-computing companies jointly created by Bessemer Venture Partners and Salesforce Ventures, in partnership with Forbes magazine.
Classplus acquired Saarthi then duped its founder and investors
(THE MORNING CONTEXT)
One of the most highly valued edtech startups in India, Classplus, is facing a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court, filed by the co-founder of smaller edtech Saarthi Techpro, and three police complaints.
The Tiger Global-backed edtech startup faces charges of cheating and breach of trust in a complicated acquisition gone awry.
Salesforce, Radian6 alum Chris Ramsey named CEO of criminal-intelligence startup Cybercheck (BETAKIT)
Fredericton-based criminal-intelligence startup Cybercheck has made Chris Ramsey its CEO, effective September 2023.
Ramsey has held senior executive roles at NASDAQ, and NYSE-traded firms, including Salesforce, where he led social media listening and analytics products to triple-digit growth as chief customer officer.
Twilio Jumps After Raising Full-Year Profit Outlook (BNN BLOOMBERG)
Twilio, known for communications services such as direct-to-consumer messaging, saw its shares rise after its quarterly sales and profit report topped analysts’ estimates.
Twilio has focused on improving profitability, announcing two rounds of job cuts over the last year, since it has been grappling with a rapid slowdown in revenue growth.
Brookfield and Sequoia Heritage’s reported new fund is well-positioned to scoop up discount tech startups (BETAKIT)
Toronto-based Brookfield Asset Management and Silicon Valley’s Sequoia Heritage have reportedly teamed up to take advantage of the current economic environment, creating “an investment vehicle to capitalize on plunging valuations of venture-backed companies.”
Per the Financial Times, the two companies are investing $250 million USD apiece to found a new company called Pinegrove Capital Partners.
Private equity firm STG to buy Avid Technology for $1.4B (REUTERS)
Private equity firm Symphony Technology Group (STG) on Wednesday agreed to buy media editing software maker Avid Technology Inc for about $1.4 billion, including debt.
Palo Alto, California-based STG is a mid-market private equity firm focused on technology investments. Earlier this year, STG struck a deal to take Momentive Global Inc, the parent company of SurveyMonkey, private in a $1.5 billion deal.
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