Accenture dominates in spending spree

Accenture’s spending spree dominated the international ICT market last month with a mixture of acquisitions, agreed deals and investments.

• Acronis, a global leader in cyber protection, acquired Synapsys, its long-time partner located in Cape Town.
• Alaris has agreed to acquire UK-based Linwave Technology, a provider of novel custom RF and microwave products across multiple markets (£3 million).
• The MICT SETA has placed its CEO Mdu Zakwe on “precautionary suspension”.
• Snyk, a cloud native application security company, is launching officially in South Africa.
• The appointments of new CEOs/MDs at Blacfox and IoT.nxt.

• BUI acquired M2M Systems, a cloud solutions provider and fellow Microsoft partner organisation based in Kenya.
• African Infrastructure Investment Managers, one of Africa’s largest infrastructure-focused private equity fund managers, together with the management team of the new Onix Data Centres platform, have acquired a majority stake in Ngoya Etix DC (Ghana), a carrier-neutral data centre.
• Helios Towers has signed agreements with Airtel Africa to acquire its passive infrastructure operating companies in Madagascar and Malawi, and has entered into an exclusive MOU for the potential acquisition of its passive infrastructure assets in Chad and Gabon.
• Infratel Corporation and Airtel Networks Zambia have signed a tower co-location agreement that will allow Airtel to lease multiple installation-ready towers across the country’s 10 provinces.
• Mastercard will invest $100 million in Airtel Africa’s mobile money operations.
• Telecom Egypt plans to launch a new submarine cable to span the outline of the African continent. The Hybrid African Ring Path (HARP) is expected to be ready for service by 2023.
• The appointments of new CEOs/MDs at Box, Dimension Data, Inq and Telekom Networks Malawi.

• Accenture made the following acquisitions: UK-based Cirrus, a leadership and talent consultancy firm; fable+, a consulting firm specialising in business agility and analytics-driven transformation; GRA, an Australian-based supply chain and logistics consulting firm; and REPL Group, a UK-based technology consultancy specialising in solutions for supply chain, workforce management, store operations and retail customer experiences. It has also formed agreements to acquire Cygni and Pollux; and has invested in Arabesque S-Ray.
• Bentley’s The Cohesive Companies bought Ontracks Consulting, an implementer of IBM Maximo. Bentley Systems has also agreed to acquire Australia-based Seequent, a geophysical modelling software developer ($1.05 billion).
• Boxlight purchased Interactive Concepts, a leader in distributed AV and IT solutions to the Belgian market.
• CompassMSP has acquired fellow MSP IT Direct.
• Datto bought BitDam, an Israeli developer of cyber threat detection.
• Descartes Systems Group purchased QuestaWeb, a provider of foreign trade zone and customs compliance solutions.
• Digi International acquired Haxiot, an industry leader in end-to-end LoRaWAN-based solutions.
• Eaton bought Switzerland-based Green Motion SA, a designer and manufacturer of electric vehicle charging hardware and related software.
• Epic Games purchased Tonic Games Group, the maker of Fall Guys.
• Equifax acquired HIREtech, a technology-focused human capital management and employer tax incentive firm; and i2verify, an income and employment verification provider.
• Fortinet bought cloud and network security start-up ShieldX.
• Globant purchased CloudShift, a Salesforce partner in the UK specialising in multicloud digital transformation.
• Microsoft acquired The Marsden Group, which provides rapid prototyping services.
• Pangiam bought biometric facial recognition company VeriScan.
• RingCentral purchased Kindite, a developer of leading cryptographic technologies that minimise and mitigate security and privacy risks to information and applications in the cloud.
• Shift4 Payments acquired VenueNext, a leader in next-generation mobile commerce, point-of-sale and loyalty solutions for venues.
• Snap bought Fit Analytics, a German apparel size-recommendation engine that helps online shoppers virtually find the right clothing size.

Square plans to take a majority stake in Tidal, a streaming music service.

• Snap-on purchased Canada-based Dealer-FX Group, a developer, marketer and provider of service operations software solutions for automotive OEM customers and their dealers ($200 million).
• Sonatype acquired MuseDev, an innovative code analysis platform.
• Spotify bought Betty Labs, the company behind the sports-focused social audio app Locker Room.
• Square Yards purchased PropVR, an AI-based platform specialising in creating digital property experiences using 3D technologies, virtual reality and augmented reality.
• StorMagic acquired SoleraTec, which develops video and digital asset management software.
• Sun Capital Partners bought Exadel, a software engineering company that provides digital platforms, products and applications for businesses.
• Super League Gaming purchased Mobcrush, the provider of a platform for live streaming video gaming.
• Thoma Bravo acquired Calabrio, a customer experience intelligence company; it has also made an agreement to acquire online trading services provider Calypso Technology; and has invested in Applitools, a provider of visual testing and monitoring software ($250 million).
• UiPath bought Cloud Elements, a US interconnectivity specialist.
• Upland Software purchased BlueVenn, a cloud-based customer data platform.
• India-based VerSe Innovation, a local language technology firm, acquired Cognirel Technologies, an AI solutions firm; and Vebbler, a photo and video-sharing app.
• Warburg Pincus bought Infinite Electronics, a supplier of components, assemblies and wireless and wired connectivity solutions.
• Wise Road Capital and its partners purchased a major stake in South Korea-based Magnachip Semiconductor.
• Wix acquired SpeedETab, an ordering technology provider.
• Xactly bought TopOPPS, a company focused on artificial intelligence, sales pipeline management and forecasting.
• Xebia Group purchased Appcino, a low-code consulting and technology firm.
• Zynga acquired Echtra Games, a game studio.
• Altice USA has inked an agreement to acquire the assets of Morris Broadband, a broadband communications services company.
• Bally's has reached an agreement on the key terms of a $2.7 billion deal to buy gambling platform provider Gamesys.
• Britain's competition regulator has opened an investigation into Apple after complaints that its terms and conditions for app developers are unfair and anti-competitive.
• Cardlytics will acquire Dosh, a provider of a transaction-based advertising platform ($275 million).
• China's government has asked Alibaba Group to dispose of its media assets.
• Cision has agreed to acquire Brandwatch, a UK-based provider of consumer intelligence marketing services ($450 million).
• CMC Materials has entered into an agreement to acquire International Test Solutions, a leader in the design and production of innovative, high-performance consumables used to optimise critical semiconductor testing processes.
• Cognizant will acquire ESG Mobility, a Germany-based digital automotive engineering R&D company that works in the autonomous and electric vehicles space.
• Communications Systems has entered into a definitive merger agreement with privately held Pineapple Energy, a growing US operator and consolidator of residential solar, battery storage and grid services solutions.
• DISH Network plans to acquire Republic Wireless, an MVNO service operating on the T-Mobile network.
• Dropbox has entered into a definitive agreement to buy DocSend, a secure document sharing and analytics company.
• Entercom Communications is transitioning its brand name to Audacy.
• EPAM Systems has agreed to acquire PolSource, a Salesforce Platinum Partner with more than 350 experienced Salesforce specialists.
• Fiserv has agreed to buy its key distribution partner and payments technology company, Pineapple Payments.
• Hitachi will buy GlobalLogic, a digital engineering services company ($9.6 billion).
• Hyland has signed an agreement providing for exclusive negotiations to acquire Nuxeo, a content services platform and digital asset management provider.
• II-VI will acquire Coherent, a global provider of lasers and laser-based technology for scientific, commercial and industrial customers ($6.9 billion).
• IronSource, the Israeli developer of technology to monetise apps, is merging with special purpose acquisition company Thoma Bravo Advantage.
• McAfee will sell its enterprise business to a consortium led by Symphony Technology Group ($4 billion).
• MasMovil has agreed to a deal for rival Spanish telecoms firm Euskaltel (€2 billion).
• E-sports and gaming group Sweden-based MTG has agreed to buy mobile games developer New Zealand-based Ninja Kiwi ($186 million).
• ByteDance’s Nuverse has agreed to acquire Shanghai-based gaming studio Moonton Technology ($4 billion).
• NXP Semiconductor has joined the S&P 500 index.
• Okta has agreed to buy Auth0, maker of identity-verification software ($6.5 billion).
• Ooredoo has agreed to the sale and leaseback of a portion of its mobile towers to EdgePoint, selling around 4 200 of them for $750 million.
• Panasonic Corporation will buy Blue Yonder, a software firm ($6.45 billion).
• PayPal Holdings will buy Israel-based Curv, a digital asset security provider.
• PayScale, industry leader in compensation data and technology, and Payfactors, a compensation data management company with deep industry expertise, have merged.
• Priority Technology Holdings, a payments technology company, and Finera Holdings, a fintech industry pioneer, have inked a merger agreement.
• Rogers Communications has agreed to buy rival Shaw Communications (C$20 billion).
• Roku has reached an agreement to buy Nielsen Holdings' Advanced Video Advertising business.
• ServiceNow has signed an agreement to acquire India-based Intellibot, a robotic process automation company.
• SilverSun Technologies’ subsidiary, SWK Technologies, has signed a letter of intent to acquire the human capital management division of PeopleSense, a reseller of Sage Software's human resource management solutions.
• Smith Micro Software will acquire Avast’s Family Safety Mobile Business.
• Square plans to take a majority stake in Tidal, a streaming music service ($297 million).
• Sumo Logic has agreed to purchase DFLabs, a security orchestration, automation and response provider.
• Synnex and Tech Data will create the world’s largest IT distributor through their $7.2 billion merger, which will be led by Tech Data’s CEO Rich Hume and 55% owned by the former.
• Tech Mahindra has acquired a 70% stake in Perigord, a supplier of consultancy and labelling artwork solutions to the pharmaceutical industry globally.
• Thomas Lee Partners has agreed to acquire a majority stake in AbacusNext, a software provider for the legal and accounting industries.
• TPG Capital has agreed to purchase Thycotic, a privileged access management vendor ($1.4 billion) and combine it with recently acquired competitor Centrify.
• TTEC Holdings has agreed to acquire Avtex, an award-winning full-service CX technology and solutions company.
• Tyto Athene has inked an agreement to acquire AT&T Government Solutions.
• Upstart Holdings has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Prodigy Software, a provider of cloud-based automotive retail software.
• Verisk’s FAST is acquiring assets and capabilities of 4C Solutions, a software advisory firm in group life insurance.
• Vista Equity Partners has bought a majority stake in Arcos, a provider of resource management software for utility and critical infrastructure companies.
• VMware plans to acquire Mesh7, a company that secures cloud-native applications and miroservices by monitoring application behaviour at the API.
• Vocus, Australia’s second-largest fibre network, has agreed to a $2,7 billion takeover by Macquarie–Super Aware.
• Wave Computing, an AI chip designer, has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection following an auction of the company and will rebrand the firm as MIPS.
• Wipro has reached an agreement to acquire Capco, a UK-based technology and management consulting firm ($1.45 billion).
• Xero is planning to acquire Planday, an employee scheduling software company ($284 million).
• JD.com has made an $800 million investment in Dada Group, an on-demand delivery platform, following which the e-commerce firm will own about 51% of Dada.
• Long Ridge Equity Partners invested in Drawbridge, a provider of cyber security software and services for the alternative investment industry.
• Silver Lake invested in Relativity, a legal and compliance software maker.
• Tencent made a $429.2 million investment in China’s Zhejiang Century Huatong Group, an Internet games developer.
• Twilio has made a $750 million investment in Syniverse Technologies, a telecommunications services company.
• Vista Equity Partners invested in AlertMedia, a provider of emergency communication and threat intelligence software.
• Insight Partners has led investments in: Identiq, the world's first anonymous identity validation network; Nuvolo, a workplace software company; Optibus, the cloud-native AI platform for planning and operating mass transportation; Overwolf, the all-in-one platform that enables creators to build, distribute and monetise in-game apps; Pollinate, the global software business that partners with banks to help them deepen and extend relationships with their business customers; Privacera, the cloud data governance and security leader; and Viz.ai, a leader in AI-driven modern care co-ordination.
• The appointments of new CEOs at Ant Group, Beeline Georgia, Beeline Uzbekistan, CompassMSP, ForeScout, InterDigital, MTBC, Qualys and Synchronoss Technologies.
• An IPO filing for Hong Kong from Chinese fintech company Linklogis.
• An IPO filing for Nasdaq from KKR-backed Applovin, a mobile-apps company; and KnowBe4, a cyber security awareness training provider.
• IPO filings for the NYSE from SEMrush, a provider of digital marketing software; Tencent-backed Tuya, a Chinese IOT cloud platform for smart devices; and UiPath, a robotic process automation start-up.
• IPOs from Baidu (HK), Bilibili (HK), Coupang (NYSE), Coursera (NYSE), DigitalOcean (NYSE), Jocom International Holdings (Singapore), Nazara Technologies (India), Roblox (NYSE) and Vantage Towers (Frankfurt).

• Vendor revenue in the worldwide server market grew 1.5% year over year to $25.8 billion during 4Q 20, with shipments declining 30% to nearly 3.3 million units, according to IDC.
• According to data presented by StockApps.com, global IT spending is expected to recover in 2021 and hit a $3.92 trillion value, a $228 billion increase since last year.

• JSE All share index: Up 0.6%
• FTSE100: Up 3.6%
• DAX: Up 8.9% (highest close during this period)
• NYSE (Dow): Up 6.6% (highest close during this period)
• S&P 500: Up 4.2% (highest close during this period)
• Nasdaq: Up 0.4%
• Nikkei225: Up 0.7%
• Hang Seng: Down 2.1%
• Shanghai: Down 1.9%

Look out for Microsoft buying messaging platform Discord for more than $10 billion; and Micron Technology and/or Western Digital Corporation buying Kioxia Holdings, a Japanese semiconductor firm, for about $30 billion.