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OpenText is selling off $600 million worth of senior debt notes that could provide some pocket change for future acquisitions.
Officials at the Waterloo, Ontario-based enterprise information management provider told investors last week that the net proceeds would be used for “general corporate purposes, including potential future acquisitions.”
OpenText has always been transparent about its acquisition strategy. At the time OpenText acquired GXS for $1 billion in early 2014, it had made 48 acquisitions valued at $3.4 billion.
In a conference call with investors at the time, OpenText CEO Mark Barrenechea said the company estimates it will spend another $3 billion in acquisitions over the next five years.
Last week's announcement marks a return to the debt market for OpenText, according to Melissa Webster, IDC analyst. She said it’s more money for their war chest for acquisitions. “What it will acquire is anyone’s guess,” Webster said. “But this could help fund a larger purchase.”
In other technology software news ...
Accel-KKR Invests in ClickDimensions
Atlanta-based marketing automation provider ClickDimensions announced an undisclosed investment from Accel-KKR, the private equity firm that acquired Episerver and Ektron, two content management system (CMS) vendors in late 2014 and merged them in early 2015.
The investment will enable ClickDimensions to continue its growth while making additional investments in existing products and driving further product innovation in the marketing technology space, the company stated in a release.
ClickDimensions has more than 2,400 customers and nearly 1,000 reseller partners. Its marketing automation technology is embedded directly in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Founded in 2010, ClickDimensions expanded its product offerings in 2015, launching Automational. ClickDimensions had 71 employees at the end of 2014 and has 150 now, according to John Gravely, ClickDimensions’ CEO.
“Accel-KKR has a team here in Atlanta,” Gravely told CMSWire. “We like their people.”
Benchmark Capital Gives Contentful $13M
Berlin-based Contentful, an API-driven content management developer platform, secured $13 million in Series B financing.
Benchmark Capital led the round, with participation from Trinity Ventures as well as existing investors Balderton Capital and Point Nine Capital. The round puts the total amount raised to date at $16.8 million.
"The CMSs of the past were really just terrible word processors,” Gareth Ballester, lead engineer at Nasty Gal, said in a statement. “Contentful is the first true ‘content management system’. A system that can manage any structure of content you can imagine, not just a sheet of paper.”
Eric Vishria, partner at Benchmark Capital, said Contentful is ahead of the game with an innovative platform and approach.
“Contentful already has strong traction with developers, buy-in from enterprise customers, and is rapidly accelerating growth in the usage of its API, so we know big things are on the horizon and are thrilled to be a part of the team,” he said.
With the new funds, Contentful will open a San Francisco office.
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Bynder Nets HIPAA compliance
Boston-based marketing and branding solution Bynder has obtained HIPAA-compliant status to help deliver secure marketing software for healthcare companies.
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a law that aims to protect patient health information. Bynder achieved HIPAA compliancy status through a recent Coalfire assessment.
“At Bynder we understand the importance of data security, especially for our clients who work in highly regulated industries,” Jami Rahman, senior solutions architect at Bynder, said in a statement. “For our clients in the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry, ensuring all of their vendors and software meet every compliance and regulatory requirements is imperative.”
Brainshark Updates Platform
Brainshark has announced product advancements to improve sales coaching effectiveness and buyer engagement. These new offerings and capabilities include:
- Enhancements to Brainshark for Coaching, including the addition of leaderboards and peer collaboration capabilities
- Microsoft Outlook integration, so reps can search for, insert and send trackable sales content within the Microsoft Outlook environment and benefit from more convenient content access within their workflows
- New and enhanced reports and dashboards within the Brainshark Sales Accelerator
Kolabtree out of Beta
London-based Kolabtree, an on-demand platform offering access to qualified scientific professionals, announced the completion of its beta program. The platform allows businesses and research groups to connect with a diverse pool of freelancers, most of whom are PhDs.
“Academia can be inaccessible for many businesses,” Ashmita Das, co-founder of Kolabtree, said in a statement. “The efforts to further academia-industry collaboration mainly serve corporations that can fund such programs. We’d like Kolabtree to make it easy for even small businesses and organizations to work with scientists and other high-level experts.”
Yippee for Yippy
Fort Myers, Fla.-based Yippy has agreed in principle to acquire Michael Cizmar & Associates Ltd., a charter Google for Work Partner and winner of Google's 2014 Innovation Partner of the Year Award.
MC+A founder Michael Cizmar will join Yippy as a member of its senior management team. Yippy anticipates that the acquisition will be closed by mid-July.
Officials said Yippy's planned acquisition of MC+A will place the company in a position to capture a significant share of the search appliance market, which officials estimate to be a $500 million market as of this year.
"Yippy's EASE 360 software stack offers a compelling solution for customers seeking a replacement for the Google Search Appliance," Cizmar said in a statement. "Yippy's Blue Flame appliance is not simply 'on par' with the Google Search Appliance, it is a dynamic reinvention of how enterprise search can be delivered with intelligence and analytics at a fraction of the cost."
