2017-04-05 Berkery Noyes Releases Online and Mobile Industry M&A Report For First Quarter 2017

NEW YORK — April 5, 2017 — Berkery Noyes, an independent mid-market investment bank, today released its Q1 2017 mergers and acquisitions trend report for the Online and Mobile Industry. The report analyzes M&A activity in the Online and Mobile Industry during Q1 2017 and compares it with the past four quarters.

According to Berkery Noyes’ research, deal volume increased seven percent in over the past three months. Total transaction value declined 49 percent, from $38.9 billion to $19.9 billion. Both aggregate volume and value throughout the past five quarters reached their peak in Q2 2016. Also of note, strategic acquirers completed each of the top ten highest value Online & Mobile deals in Q1 2017.

The number of transactions in the mobile application subsector improved ten percent on a quarterly basis, with a total of 116 acquisitions in Q1 2017. Notable mobile-based deals during the quarter included United Luck Consortium’s $1 billion acquisition of Outfit7, a media franchise with various mobile applications, which have received more than 5 billion downloads; Take-Two Interactive Software’s acquisition of Social Point, a mobile game developer, for $250 million; ABRY Partners’ announced acquisition of MobileHelp, a provider of mobile medical alert and personal health management solutions, for $130 million; Fingerprints’ acquisition of Delta ID, which develops biometric identity and authentication solutions for consumer mobile devices based on iris recognition technology, for $106 million; MeetMe’s announced acquisition of If(we), a social discovery and mobile technology company, for $60 million; and Yelp’s acquisition of NoWait, a mobile application that allows restaurants to manage waitlists, for $40 million.

E-Marketing & Search volume improved nine percent in Q1 2017. Notable digital marketing deals in the segment year-to-date included Amobee’s acquisition of Turn, an advertising technology company used by marketers and agencies, for $310 million; Altice’s announced acquisition of Teads, an online video advertising company, for $306 million; Accenture Interactive’s announced acquisition of a majority stake in SinnerSchrader, a digital marketing and advertising agency based in Germany, for $62 million; Salesforce’s acquisition of Sequence, a user experience design agency; Condé Nast’s announced acquisition of CitizenNet, a social data and marketing platform; and Comcast’s acquisition of Watchwith, a video metadata technology provider.

“Digital marketing solutions that are able to extract insights from the growing amounts of data and effectively engage consumers across multiple channels are highly valued in today’s market,” said Vineet Asthana, Managing Director at Berkery Noyes. “Technology companies, consulting firms, and others are eager to gain market share by seeking a larger array of service offerings to complement their existing product and solution portfolios, especially since enterprises are requiring an increasing amount of data management services.” Asthana continued, “Many large players, both financial and strategic, are actively pursuing inorganic growth through acquisition, as the marketing automation market is still rapidly expanding.”

E-Commerce deal activity remained about constant for the third consecutive quarter. Notable E-Commerce transactions year-to-date included Amazon’s announced acquisition of Souq, a Dubai-based online retailer, for a reported $650 million; Coty’s acquisition of a majority stake in Younique, an online cosmetics retailer and social selling platform, for $600 million; and Priceline’s announced acquisition of Momondo Group, the operator of travel metasearch websites momondo and Cheapflights, for $550 million, which will be rolled into Priceline’s Kayak division.

Additional E-Commerce transactions completed by high profile acquirers during the quarter were Airbnb’s acquisition of Tilt, a social payments startup; Eventbrite’s acquisition of Ticketscript, which offers event organizers a self-service ticketing platform for the sale of e-tickets; GoFundMe’s acquisition of CrowdRise, an online fundraising platform for charities and non-profits; JPMorgan Chase’s announced acquisition of Merchant Customer Exchange’s (MCX) payments technology, which will help expand Chase Pay, a mobile and digital wallet for Chase customers; and Jet.com’s acquisition of ModCloth, an online fashion retailer, which followed Walmart’s acquisition of Jet.com for $3.3 billion in Q3 2016. Jet.com also acquired Shoebuy, an online footwear retailer, for $70 million in Q4 2016.

A copy of the ONLINE AND MOBILE M&A REPORT FOR FIRST QUARTER 2017 is available at the Berkery Noyes website.