The Key to an Ocean of Information
Data analytics has been at the forefront of business transformation for the better part of two decades. Corporations such as Amazon realized early on that the key to success in a digital world often comes from insights hidden in oceans of data and customer information. As industries and customers become increasingly complex and businesses struggle to adapt to change, the need for data-driven insights has become more important than ever. Thus the strong demand for Data Analytic companies.
In mid-October of 2020, Twilio entered into a definite agreement to acquire Segment for ~$3.2 billion. Segment is a leading customer data platform and enables developers to unify customer data and empowers marketing, sales, and customer service leaders to design and build relevant, data-driven customer engagement. This transaction is one of largest technology deals of 2020 and will be immensely helpful in helping Twilio expand their platform and drive customer insights.
Also in mid-October, Qubole was acquired by Idera for an undisclosed amount. Qubole is an open data lake platform for analytics and machine learning that large enterprises depend on to quickly use the power of data and gain valuable business insights. Qubole was a quickly growing platform and had raised around $78 million since its founding in 2011. This acquisition will help Idera expand its data offerings platform and grow its ability to store and manage unorganized data for its clients.
In yet another mid-October transaction, TIBCO entered into a definite agreement to acquire Information Builders. Information Builders is a leading data and analytics software company that provides a suite of business intelligence tools, customer analytics solutions, data management instruments, and accelerators. This is an important deal for TIBCO as it’s the first acquisition since Dan Streetman took the helm as CEO in April of 2019. It perhaps hints at the path Streetman plans to take the company moving forward. Estimates are the deal may be valued as high as $1 billion.
In February, Evergage was acquired by Salesforce for $100 million. Evergage is a cloud-based software that allows users to collect, analyze, and respond to user behavior on their websites and web applications in real-time. Salesforce, who has acquired three other companies this year, is on a tear to expand its growing capabilities in the face of COVID. Specifically, this acquisition will bolster Salesforce’s marketing cloud capabilities and personalization offerings.
Also in February, Google completed the acquisition of Looker for $2.6 billion (announced in June 2019). Looker develops a browser-based data platform that offers data analytics, exploration, and insights into various functions of a business. This acquisition will allow Google to further bolster its cloud capabilities and better deliver end-to-end data insights and analytics.
In August, Supermetrics announced a €40MM financing from Highland Europe, IVP and Open Ocean. Supermetrics is the world leader in data integration and management tools built to give marketing professionals the ability to access, analyze and react to multiple, complicated data sets. Note, PHARUS is a (very happy) investor in Supermetrics.