New England area security, consumer Web, database, and medical device tech startups have been acquired by firms near and far at a feverish pace in the last week.
—CustomMade, a Cambridge, MA-based provider of an online marketplace for connecting consumers with artisans, raised $2 million in funding from an unnamed group of investors.
—A trio of area Web startups inked financing deals late last week. Cambridge-based education-focused startup BetterLesson nabbed a $1.6 million investment from Highland Capital Partners, General Catalyst Partners, New Markets Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, and angel investors. Wikets, a recommendation technology startup, took in $1.5 million in seed funding from from Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, and angel investors. And Newton, MA-based online video delivery startup PeerApp added $8 million in financing from a group of investors that included Summit Partners. Cedar Fund, Evergreen Partners, and Pilot House Ventures Group.
—This week we’ve seen a slew of acquisitions. Boston-based Localocracy (developer of community platforms) was picked up by AOL’s (NYSE: [[ticker:AOL]]) Huffington Post Media Group, for a price tag of less than $1 million, according to tech media reports. Hopkinton, MA-based EMC (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EMC]]) bought Concord, MA-based Zettapoint, a database management technology developer, for an undisclosed sum. In the medical devices space, Hudson, NH-based Atrium Medical will be acquired by Sweden-based Getinge Group.
—More on that: (NYSE: [[ticker:IBM]]) announced its acquisition of Waltham, MA-based security software developer Q1 Labs, marking Big Blue’s 19th acquisition of a Bay State company since 2003. Financial terms weren’t disclosed for the deal, which is expected to close this quarter. Q1 CEO Brendan Hannigan will lead IBM’s newly formed Security Systems Division, which includes Q1 and other security technology IBM has acquired in the last decade.
—And still more: Portsmouth, NH-based NitroSecurity will be acquired by Intel (NASDAQ: [[ticker:INTC]]) subsidiary McAfee for an undisclosed sum. Nitro makes technology enabling organizations to much more quickly protect their IT infrastructure from cyber threats and other intrusions.
