Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was unpredictable in many ways than you would have imagined, even in your wildest dreams. The pandemic dampened the activities across tech for the most part of 2020, resulting in fewer deals than 2019. However, it did pick up in the last quarter of the year.
As per the data by GlobalData, global tech M&A deals totalled $634 billion (nearly £458 million), which is a 91.8% year-over-year increase. A few notable acquisitions that have resulted in this spike include Xilinx by Advanced Micro Devices and Slack by Salesforce.
Talking about 2021, it looks like the same trend as Q4 last year will be maintained. If we go by the first quarter of this year, it seems like there will be no slowdown in big deals all across the tech industry. So far, there have been notable collaborations this month, such as Leeds-based United’s partnership with Skrill and Five9’s partnership with CANCOM.
Having said that, here are the most significant technology acquisitions and partnerships that took place in March 2021 in the UK tech landscape.
Numan acquired Vi-Health
Numan, a digital health clinic for men in the UK, acquired Swedish healthtech startup Vi-Health. Vi-Health’s platform is registered as a Class I Medical Device. It includes an AI-powered symptom checker, advanced e-consultation tools, and workflow automation tools. This acquisition was marked as an extension to Numan’s Clinic OS, and accelerated its journey towards becoming a holistic, full-stack, digital health provider. A majority of the Vi-Health team will join Numan while working from their offices in Stockholm and Malmö.
Eseye partnered with TELUS
Guildford-based Eseye, a pioneer of leading-edge IoT connectivity solutions, entered into a strategic partnership with world-leading communications and information technology company, TELUS. As a result, Eseye’s AnyNet Connectivity Platform will power TELUS’ newly launched TELUS Global Connect.
Also, TELUS Ventures, the strategic investment arm of TELUS makes a $26.3 million (nearly £15 million) investment in Eseye. It will enable Eseye to drive product development, customer success and expand sales and marketing activities.
Costain and Microsoft strategic partnership
UK-based Costain, a smart infrastructure solutions company, entered into a strategic partnership with software giant Microsoft. The partnership is aimed at digitally optimising the way UK infrastructure is designed, delivered and operated. Together, both companies aim to improve UK citizens’ lives by helping owners and operators of infrastructure create and get value from digital assets.
Costain will leverage Microsoft’s cloud-based software, Azure, to integrate systems and business functions for improved enterprise data management and much more.
Radius Payment Solutions acquired Rainbow Communications
Earlier this month, UK-based Radius Payment Solutions acquired Northern Irish telecommunications business Rainbow Communications. This marked the eighth acquisition in the sector by Radius within the last two years as it eyes to continue to expand its telecommunications services globally. This acquisition followed that of Connect Total Communications in October 2020. Both these acquisitions will strengthen Radius’ presence in Ireland.
Meniga partnered with Íslandsbanki
Meniga, a London-based global leader in digital banking solutions, announced the partnership with Íslandsbanki, one of the largest banks in Iceland. Meniga entered into this partnership to launch its innovative green banking solution, ‘Carbon Insight’. It will empower thousands of people across Iceland to fight climate change. The Carbon Insight solution is integrated into Íslandsbanki’s own mobile banking app. It lets users to estimate and track the carbon footprint that stems from their spending.
Paysend partnerships with Mastercard
Paysend announced a strategic partnership with Mastercard in the UK and EEA. This partnership will be mutually beneficial as it will boost Paysend’s global reach and grow both businesses’ customer base. The new partnership with Mastercard will boost the potential of the new Paysend Global Account, and support its global approach by offering a platform for strategic expansion, thereby increasing the capacity for cross-border transactions.
Atom bank partnered with Credit Kudos
Durham-based challenger bank Atom Bank partnered with London fintech Credit Kudos to enhance its open data capabilities for business loan affordability assessments. Also, it intends to deliver £1 billion in lending over the next two years. Atom will use the categorisation and risk insights of Credit Kudos to automate underwriting assessments. This lets them make real-time decisions and improve the customer experience compared to traditional processes.
Initially, both companies will focus on secured small business lending and later expand to unsecured business lending and support its residential mortgage lending by the end of 2021.
Codat and Plaid joined hands
London fintech Codat and US-based Plaid have joined recently to enable SMEs to instantly connect and share a comprehensive range of financial data with lenders during the application process so they can more quickly gain access to the capital they need. With this partnership, the companies intend to improve small business lending in the UK. This partnership lets the companies assist their customers by monitoring their cash-flow or tailor the loan servicing experience to SMEs’ particular financial needs.
The post UK tech: Most powerful acquisitions and partnerships that took place in March 2021 appeared first on UKTN (UK Tech News).
