October 2020

Access to some materials included in this newsletter may be limited to Red Forest Capital funds.

Happy Thanksgiving to our Canadian friends who celebrate! 

Congratulations to all of you who are progressing well and for the many who have signed LOIs so far this month. We are encouraged by your progress and look forward to helping if/when we can.  In the meantime, please find a selection of resources below to support your efforts. 

INDUSTRY UPDATES 

• Costs exceed revenue for many latinx-owned businesses since COVID-19

• Small-business owners try to survive the pandemic 

INDUSTRY IDEAS, PRIVATE EQUITY, AND M&A

AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

• Broadtree Partners acquired Seanair Machine, manufacturer of machined parts for the aerospace industry 

• Draken International acquires Cobham Group's Aviation Services 

B2B SERVICES

• Twenty-five states allow remote notary, consider notaries, and supporting companies like; DocVerify, Nexsys, NotaryCam, Pavaso

CONSUMER 

• NerdWallet acquired Know Your Money, an independent financial comparison website 

• Primo Water acquires Mountain Valley Water Company

• Rotolo Consultants acquired Vision Landscapes, a commercial landscaping and maintenance company in Alabama

• BrightView Holdings acquired Commercial Tree Care, Inc., a full-service tree care company 

EDUCATION 

• Arco Platform Limited acquired Studos Software, provider for personalized student assessment, data-based academic performance diagnostics

• Cambium Learning acquired Rosetta Stone, a world leader in technology-based learning solutions  

ENERGY 

• Dewey Electronics acquires INI Power, provider of small, quiet multi-fuel generators to the US military

• Honeywell acquired Rocky Research, a technology provider specializing in thermal, energy, and power management solutions

• Quorum Software acquired Landdox, a provider of land management software

ENVIRONMENT & RELATED 

• American Water Works Company acquired Granite City Wastewater Collection System

FINANCE & INSURANCE

• Afterpay acquired Pagantis, provider of automated, friction-free consumer finance for e-commerce 

• Bold Penguin acquires RiskGenius, a provider of insurance document intelligence software

• Castles Technology acquired Spire Payments, provider of electronic funds transfer at point of sale (EFTPOS) systems 

• CC Capital and Motive Partners acquire Wilshire Associates

• Discovery Health Partners acquired Consova’s payment integrity business

• Featheringill Capital acquired InvestEdge, a provider of compliance software to financial institutions

• Hub International acquired Mumby Insurance Brokers, a property and casualty and employee benefits businesses 

• Hub International acquired Clearpoint Advisory Group, Clearpoint Retirement Solutions, and Canwest Group Benefits 

• NFP acquired Hutch Hubby & Associates, an employee benefits firm

HEALTHCARE

• Charter Health Care Group acquired two hospice service providers: Phoenix Home Care (Denver) and Heartwood (Salt Lake City)

• CloudMD Software & Services acquired Benchmark Systems Inc., provider of workflow, revenue, practice, and electronic records management

• HealthStream acquires Shiftwizard, provider of a workforce management SaaS, including scheduling, productivity, and forecasting for $32M 

• Innovative Renal Care acquires American Renal Associates

• Ionis Pharmaceuticals acquires Akcea Therapeutics, a company focused on medicines to treat patients with serious and rare diseases

• Paladina Health acquired Healthstat, a provider of onsite, near-site, shared, and virtual employer-sponsored health centers

• Syngenta Group acquires Valagro, provider of biological R&D, production, and commercialization capabilities 

• The Country’s Largest inpatient eating-disorder center will open in Dedham

INDUSTRIALS & MANUFACTURING 

• Altair acquired M-Base Engineering + Software, a supplier of material database and material information systems, with a focus on plastics

• Applied Industrial Technologies acquires Advanced Control Solutions, provider of machine vision equipment and software products and services

• Ardian acquired a 50% stake in ANGUS Chemical Company, a maker of nitroalkanes and their derivatives

• Brook & Whittle acquired Innovative Labeling Solutions Inc and Wizard Labels LLC

• Gamma Biosciences acquired Nanopareil, a company developing next-generation nanofiber membrane products for chromatographic separation

• GenNx360 Capital Partners acquired B2B Industrial and AMW Packaging

• NCP Capital Partners acquired Beauce Caoutchouc, manufacturer of rubber and silicone-based wear parts 

• Shrieve Chemical Company acquired CLP Chemicals, which distributes styrene, acrylates, acetic acid, glycerin, and other niche chemicals

• Snap-on acquired AutoCrub, a maker of industrial vending and asset control solutions, for $36 million

• Sole Source Capital acquires Dallas Plastics, manufacturer of blown polyethylene film for the medical, food, and industrial end markets

• UFP Industries acquired Fire Retardant Chemical Technologies LLC (FRCT), which develops fire retardants and water repellents

• Wellspring Capital Management acquired Cadence Petroleum Group, which distributes lubricant and fuel products

LEGAL & RELATED

• Ownr acquired Founded Technologies, a technology platform that automates incorporations, equity management, and legal agreements

MEDIA & ADVERTISING

• Bertram Capital acquired Senior Living Media, a senior living communication and engagement technology company 

REAL ESTATE & RELATED

• ECI Software Solutions acquired BOLT Software, a cloud-based construction marketing and sales solution

• MRI Software acquired Priority Technology Holdings RentPayment.com, StorageRentPayment.com, and DuesPayment.com

TECHNOLOGY

• Abry Partners acquired Symmetrix Solutions, a managed IT services provider (MSP)  

• Arista Networks acquires network security specialist Aware Security

• BlackLine acquired Rimilia, an AI-powered accounts receivable automation solution

• Cisco acquires PortShift and its Kubernetes-native security platform

• CleanSpark acquired GridFabric, a company that creates software solutions that help power utilities and IoT products 

• Element, and Slack competitor formerly known as Riot, acquired Gitter, a developer-focused chat platform

• HireVue acquires AllyO, provider of recruiting chatbot and automated workflow software for $50m to $100m

• iLOOKABOUT acquired Apex Software, provider of property sketching software, property assessment, and appraisal

• Ncontracts acquired Banc Intranets, a provider of secure, web-based enterprise content management solutions 

• SAP acquires Emarsys and its customer personalization technology

• Twilio acquires Segment’s customer data platform (CDP)

• Vector Capital acquires MarkLogic Corporation, a leading provider of enterprise data integration and data management solutions

• Veeam acquired Kasten, a provider of data backup, disaster recovery and mobility solutions for Kubernetes  

• Veritas Technologies acquired Globanet, provider of compliance and intelligent communications solutions 

• Vungle acquires intelligence platform AlgoLift, a company that leverages data science that determines the future lifetime value of customers

• MCR acquired StayNTouch, provider of cloud hotel property management system and contactless solutions providers

TRANSPORTATION & LOGISTICS 

• Alinda Capital Partners acquired PECO Pallet, provider of pooled rental pallets and services to the foodservice, grocery, and consumer products 

• Americold Realty Trust acquires Agro Merchants Group, the fourth largest temperature-controlled warehouse company globally

• Kenan Advantage Group acquired Paul’s Hauling, a provider of bulk transport services

• PINC acquired RailcarRx, a provider of a comprehensive suite of rail industry software solutions and services

• Fleet Maintenance and repair like Integrity Auto

INTERESTING & FUN

• The Berkshire Hathaway of The Internet

• Finding Your Niche In Which To Buy a Business

• Meet the Excel warriors saving the world from spreadsheet disaster

• BurnoutIndex, although designed for tech workers, assesses burnout risk then offers tips to cool down

• The case of the Facebook/Instagram merger

• What Makes a Great CEO? (one perspective) 

• How major conventions like SXSW and CES are working around the extended pandemic timeline  

• SaaS metrics that matter: MRR or ARR?

• Technical debt and reclaiming tech equity

• Zoom, the most impersonated brand in fraudulent emails last quarter

• Are your sales teams tracking velocity?

• The economics of vending machines