[Updated 1/26/17, 2:42 pm. See below.] This week in Boston tech, we’re tracking a string of acquisitions, funding rounds, and more. The moves include an acquisition by IBM Security, more funding for a telecom technology company that has raised $200 million-plus from investors, more money for “deathtech” startup Mylestoned, and the reaction of a local autonomous vehicle software startup to proposed state regulations of the industry. Read on for details.
Acquisitions
—Mobile advertising startup Adelphic was acquired for an undisclosed sum by Viant, an adtech company acquired by Time (NYSE: [[ticker:TIME]]) last year. Founded in 2010, Adelphic had raised about $23 million from investors, including Blue Chip Venture Company, Matrix Partners, and GV (formerly called Google Ventures).
Adelphic will retain its brand name, Viant chief marketing officer Jon Schulz told Xconomy. And the plan is for Adelphic’s 64 employees to stay on after the acquisition closes, Adelphic CEO Michael Collins said in an interview. Viant, meanwhile, has over 400 employees worldwide, Schulz said. [This paragraph added.]
Adelphic is part of a line of Boston-area mobile advertising companies that have been acquired in the past decade or so, including m-Qube, Enpocket, Third Screen Media, Quattro Wireless, Where, Jumptap, and Nexage.
—IBM Security announced plans to acquire San Francisco-based Agile 3 Solutions, which makes software that helps businesses manage risks related to data. Financial terms weren’t disclosed. IBM’s (NYSE: [[ticker:IBM]]) security division is based in Cambridge, MA.
—Dockwa, which makes an app that enables boaters to reserve slips at marinas, has acquired Jupiter, FL-based Marinas.com, an online directory of more than 75,000 marine locations. Deal terms weren’t disclosed. Founded in 2015, Dockwa is based in Newport, RI, and has an office in Cambridge.
—In its first acquisition since going public last year, Burlington, MA-based Everbridge (NASDAQ: [[ticker:EVBG]]) acquired Svensk Krisledning AB for an undisclosed price. The Swedish company makes mobile crisis management software, which Everbridge says should bolster its offerings in critical communications software and enterprise safety applications.
Meanwhile, Everbridge hired former Yottaa CEO Vick Vaishnavi to be general manager of its IT Alerting and Internet of Things business.
Investments
—Altiostar raised $27 million from investors, according to an SEC filing. The Tewksbury, MA-based firm has now raised about $210 million in equity and debt financing, SEC filings show. The company makes radio equipment that it says boosts the performance of wireless networks and helps mobile broadband companies lay the groundwork for the transition to 5G networks.
—Medrobotics raised almost $20 million from investors, an SEC filing shows. The Raynham, MA-based medical device firm makes robotics products used in surgeries. [This paragraph added.]
—Cambridge, MA-based materials science startup LiquiGlide said it raised $16 million from investors, including Structure Capital, Valia Investments, Struck Capital, and Pilot Grove. The firm previously raised $7 million in 2015 from Roadmap Capital.
The MIT spinout says its coating technology creates permanently wet, slippery surfaces, with the goal of improving the way businesses move liquid products around. The technology has applications in manufacturing, consumer goods packaging, and oil and gas infrastructure, LiquiGlide says.
—Boston “deathtech” startup Mylestoned raised nearly $4.5 million from investors, an SEC filing shows. The company launched a software-based service last year that aims to give the grieving a more meaningful and interactive method of paying digital tribute to loved ones who have passed away. Mylestoned, founded by serial entrepreneur Dave Balter, previously raised $1.5 million in seed funding from Founder Collective, Boston Seed Capital, Converge Venture Partners, and individual investors.
—Boston cybersecurity startup Barkly nabbed $6 million from investors, according to an SEC filing. The company previously raised about $16.8 million in venture funding, SEC filings show.
—In other Boston cybersecurity funding news, BostInno reported that Komand closed a $1.3 million seed round last year via Hack/Secure, an investment syndicate founded by Accomplice’s Chris Lynch and Cort Johnson. The round was led by former EMC executive Michael Egan, son of the late EMC co-founder Richard Egan, BostInno reported.
Komand is the new security startup from Jen Andre, who previously co-founded Threat Stack.
Other moves
—Lexalytics, a Boston-based maker of text and sentiment analysis technologies, announced it has created an innovation lab in Amherst, MA, focused on developing artificial intelligence products. The “Magic Machines AI Labs” is a partnership with the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s Center for Data Science and Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications.
Read more about the initiative here, and more about Lexalytics in this Xconomy article.
—Lastly, there were a few pieces of recent news involving NuTonomy, the local startup developing autonomous vehicle software. The company came out in opposition of proposed self-driving car regulations put forth by two Massachusetts legislators, which reportedly would include a special tax on such vehicles and a requirement that most of them couldn’t travel more than a mile without a passenger. The Boston Globe has more here.
Meanwhile, NuTonomy opened an office in Boston’s Seaport neighborhood, where it recently began testing self-driving vehicles. And the company hired former Zipcar executive Gretchen Effgen as its vice president of partnerships.
