Assembly Payments has completed its merger with Irish cross-border payments marketplace CurrencyFair and rebanded as Zai. The Melbourne fintech announced the merger in April this year, which went ahead following regulatory approval. It’s the second rebrand for Assembly Payments, which was founded in 2013 as PromisePay by Darren McMurtrie, Simon Lee and Simon Jones. The Westpac-backed… Read more »
Sydney legal tech firm Smokeball, a cloud-based practice management software startup that automatically tracks a lawyer’s time and activity for billing, has raised $30 million in its first capital round. The investment from private investors and employee shareholders will be used to fast-track the expansion of its 200+ person team, based in Sydney and Chicago, as… Read more »
Artificial intelligence (AI)-driven startup Hyper Anna has been acquired by NYSE-listed California analytics automation firm Alteryx. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Alteryx (NYSE: AYX) has a market cap of more than A$6.9 billion. Founded in Sydney in 2015 by Natalie Nguyen and Sam Zheng, the data science startup delivers business insights to… Read more »
Global software giant Microsoft is acquiring Queensland video startup Clipchamp. Described as “Canva for video” by Steve Baxter, one of Clipchamp’s many investors, the 8-year-old venture helps people make videos using its in-browser platform quickly and easy. Microsoft is one for the more than 17 million users of Clipchamp, which counts Google, Deloitte, Dell and… Read more »
One of New Zealand’s largest ecommerce and daily deals websites, GrabOne, is being sold to Global Marketplace, the Australian company behind Click Frenzy, for NZ$17.5 million (A$16.8m). Melbourne-based Global Marketplace (GMP) also owns Click Central and e-commerce analytics firm Power Retail and is reportedly gearing up for an IPO in 2022. The company is majority… Read more »
Acumino, a recently launched Singapore venture studio focused on emerging technologies and disruptive innovation, has acquired the intellectual property assets of Melbourne-based startup Speakeasy. Speakeasy launched a social video streaming platform to deliver interactive live events to large-scale global audiences, launching in March last year just as the Covid pandemic hit. The Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) venture… Read more »
ASX-listed Bendigo and Adelaide Bank will pay up to $116 million for Ferocia, the Melbourne fintech co-founded by Dominic Pym and Grant Thomas. Ferocia has been behind Bendigo e-banking app and internet banking platform for nine years and three years ago, Bendigo partnered with Pym and Ferocia to launch the neobank Up. The 100% acquisition… Read more »
ASX-listed consumer lender Latitude Group Holdings Ltd (ASX: LFS) is planning to buy three-year old Melbourne fintech Symple Loans for $200 million. The shares and cash deal – 38.46 million Latitude shares at $2.60 per share and $100 million in cash – will see Symple become the lending platform for all Latitude personal and auto… Read more »
The A$39 billion (US$29 billion) that Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s digital payments company Square is paying to acquire Australian upstart payments outfit Afterpay is the biggest takeover deal in Australian corporate history. It surpasses the A$32 billion European commercial real estate giant Unibail-Rodamco agreed to pay for Frank Lowy’s Westfield Corporation in 2017. The deal… Read more »
US-listed small business software company Bill.com (NYSE:BILL) is acquiring Australian SMB fintech Invoice2go for US$625 million (A$850m). The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies and is expected to close by the end of 2021, subject to receipt of regulatory approvals. The acquisition cost is split between 75% in Bill.com common stock… Read more »
There’s some relief for investors in Youfoodz Holdings Ltd today following a takeover bid by German-owned meal kit delivery rival HelloFresh. Youfoodz (ASX: YFZ) shares have jumped 77% to $0.902 cents following the offer at $0.93 per share in cash by way of a scheme of arrangement. The company said it has entered into a… Read more »
A takeover bid for ASX-listed online car sales venture iCar Asia by rival Singaporean car e-commerce platform Carsome has pushed the shares up more than 41% in early trade today. The non-binding acquisition proposal from Carhome at $0.55 cents a share pips a previous offer last year at $0.50 cents from China’s Autohome. iCar Asia… Read more »
US technology workforce development company Pluralsight has closed its acquisition deal for online learning startup A Cloud Guru. The $2 billion deal for the London-based startup, which began life in 2015 in a Melbourne bedroom as the vision of brothers Sam and Ryan Kroonenburg, is one of Australia’s biggest M&A tech deals. Sam, the company’s CEO,… Read more »
Melbourne-based drinks business Mighty Craft has announced plans to buy South Australian producers Adelaide Hills Distillery, Mismatch Brewing and Hills Cider in a deal worth $47 million. The agreement also includes 75 % ownership of the popular LOT.100 venue, which is a destination distillery, cellar door, restaurant and function centre on an 84-hectare property near… Read more »
US tech workforce development venture Pluralsight will acquire online learning startup A Cloud Guru in a deal believed to be worth $2 billion. The sale is likely to be one of the biggest in local tech for the 5-year-old London-based startup. A Cloud Guru was originally built in a month in a Melbourne bedroom… Read more »
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