- February 6, 2017
- Posted by: Lantre Barr
- Category: News
2016 WebRTC Industry Mergers & Acquisitions in Review
2016 was a good year for the communications industry, in particular the Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) industry. We have seen large scale acquisitions and mergers along with acqui-hires by corporations looking to strengthen their internal teams.
2017 will no doubt be filled with just as many surprises in the industry as this year. In 2015 we saw over 20 mergers and acquisitions and we only saw about 10. It leaves one to wonder with the industry consolidating at such high rates who will be left. I have some ideas, companies like Peer5 who is helping offloading networks for clients like Dailymotion and testRTC who’s helping companies build test automation into their WebRTC enabled products and services are likely candidates for acquisition in 2017 but only time will tell.
February 2016
Apex Communications was acquired by Dialogic
On February 9, 2016 Dialogic announced their acquisition of Apex Communications to deliver packaged or customizable real-time communication applications operators worldwide.
May 2016
vLine was acquired by Airtime
On May 4, 2016 Airtime, a Sean Parker company, announced they acqui-hired the vLine team to been working on building out a globally distributed WebRTC platform optimized for mobile devices and networks that powers the Airtime application.
Nexmo was acquired by Vonage
On May 5, 2016 Vonage announced their acquisition of Nexmo aiming to become a leading provider in the communications-enabled applications market, which research firm IDC expects will reach $8 billion by the year 2018.
June 2016
Twilio went public on the NYSE
On June 23, 2016 Twilio began trading today on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol “TWLO” after its initial public offering, which raised $150 million in gross proceeds.
July 2016
Polycom was acquired by Siris Capital Group
On July 8, 2016 Polycom announced their plans to terminate the merger deal with Mitel Networks in order to be acquired by Siris Capital Group for $2 billion in cash.
Citrix GoToMeeting mergers with LogMeIn
On July 26, 2016 Citrix and LogMeIn announced that the companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement for LogMeIn to combine with Citrix’s GoTo business in a Reverse Morris Trust transaction.
August 2016
Beam was acquired by Microsoft
On August 11, 2016 Microsoft announced the acqui-hire of the Beam team to integrate WebRTC into their Xbox family of products and services and to support Microsoft’s ongoing commitment to make Xbox Live more social and fun.
Interactive Intelligence was acquired by Genesys
On August 31, 2016 Genesys announced the acquisition of Interactive Intelligence to accelerate Genesys’ ability to execute on its mission of powering the world’s best customer experiences at scale, anytime, anywhere – over any channel, in the cloud and on-premise.
September 2016
Kurento was acquired by Twilio
On September 20, 2016 Twilio announced their acquisition of Kurento to integrate the Kurento Media Server capabilities including large group communications, transcoding, recording and advanced media processing into their Programmable Video service.
Cardinal Health acquired TelePharm
On September 1, 2016 Cardinal Health announced it plans to acquire TelePharm to have their WebRTC enabled technology to help support existing services for retail pharmacies.
December 2016
Mitel Networks was acquired by Xura
On December 19, 2016 Xura announced their acquisition of Mitel Networks to offer a comprehensive, best-in-class solution set to the combined company’s global Communications Service Providers customer base.
Sinch was acquired by CLX Communications
On December 9, 2016 CLX Communications announced their acquisition of Sinch to enhance their position as the leading provider of communication solutions to businesses worldwide, including internet-based voice communications.
About Blacc Spot Media, Inc.
Blacc Spot Media focuses on Web Real-Time Communications (WebRTC) development across web, mobile, native desktop and telephony implementations. Our team works on strategic projects developing custom applications, enterprise platforms and mobile applications for a wide array of clients. If you are interested developing your own WebRTC product or service, let us know how we can help you.
Take a look at our website for more information (https://www.blaccspotmedia.com) or email us at hi@blaccspot.com.
2 Comments
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Good article!
Great state-of-the-industry recap, Lantre.
December 2016: IDT Corp acquires LiveNinja
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/technology/article124444914.html