OpenText, which provides customer experience and digital workplace software, has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Zix Corporation for $860 million. Zix is a SaaS-based email encryption, threat protection and compliance cloud solution for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB).
OpenText intends to integrate Carbonite, Webroot and Zix products to create an SMB platform for data protection, threat management, email security and compliance solutions. OpenText CEO and CTO Mark J. Barrenechea said the acquisition will help deepen OpenText’s relationship with Microsoft.
In other digital marketing and customer experience software news…
Verbit Raises $250 Million Series E
Verbit, a voice AI transcription and captioning company, announced that it has closed its Series E funding round at $250 million, after securing a $150 million primary investment and $100 million in secondary transactions. The round was led by a $200 million investment by Third Point Ventures, with additional participation by existing investors Sapphire Ventures, More Capital, Disruptive AI, Vertex Growth, 40North, Samsung Next and TCP.
Verbit’s total funding now exceeds $550 million (including secondary transactions) since the company’s inception in 2017. Since Verbit raised its Series D of $157 million last May, the company’s valuation has doubled to $2 billion, according to company officials. Verbit’s now has 470 employees. Verbit plans to pursue further M&A, adding scale and new capabilities, as well as providing enhanced value to its media, education, corporate, legal and government clients.
Grammarly Reaches $13B Valuation with Funding Round
Grammarly, which provides grammar-correcting software, has announced over $200 million in funding at a $13B valuation from new investors Baillie Gifford and funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, among others. With this latest round, Grammarly will accelerate product innovation and team growth.
Grammarly’s platform is designed to aid users with effective communication across more than 500,000 applications and websites, from email clients to enterprise software to word processors. It recently debuted a desktop product, Grammarly for Developers, and has had strategic partnerships like Grammarly for Samsung Keyboard.
The Spotler Group Acquires UK B2C Vendor Pure360
Spotler Group announced the acquisition of UK-based Purepromoter Limited (trading as Pure360), a B2C marketing platform. The acquisition extends its ability to offer omnichannel marketing automation software in the B2C and ecommerce markets.
The Pure360 platform delivers functionality built around the needs of B2C marketers, such as product recommendations, basket abandonment emails, website personalization, persona analytics, personalized journeys and loyalty programs. Its marketing automation functionality also enables marketers to segment audiences.
MACH Alliance Announces 8 Newly Certified Companies
MACH Alliance, the group of independent tech companies that advocates for open, best-of-breed technology ecosystems, announced it has certified eight new members. MACH stands for Microservices-based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS and Headless.
The new members are:
- Actindo AG: A digital operations platform enabling ecommerce
- Appnovation: A global, digital consultancy specializing in the design, development and support of experiences
- Builder.io: A platform to visually create and optimize app and website experiences
- Convictional: A supplier enablement platform for retailers and marketplaces
- Fast: A headless checkout solution.
- GraphCMS: The GraphQL Content Federation System
- Object Edge: A consultancy that builds digital experiences for enterprise B2B/B2C/D2C commerce and content
- Storyblok: A headless content management system
MACH Alliance vendor members have accumulated more than $2.5 billion in funding.
DHgate and Google Partner for Overseas Digital Marketing
DHgate, China’s B2B cross-border ecommerce marketplace, and Google have announced the launch of a joint advertisement solution. This solution, which is called the Huitou Advertising Platform, enables sellers to carry marketing campaigns leveraging Google Shopping and Google Smart Shopping, in over 200 different countries and regions across the world.
Google’s ads solution offering will be integrated into DHgate’s marketing platform for sellers, alongside other advertising tools offered by the ecommerce company.
