Synacor Inc. has acquired email and collaboration solution company
Zimbra. Synacor, which has headquarters in Buffalo, New York, USA (alongside offices in Tokyo, London, Singapore and Pune, southern India), specializes in technology development and multiplatform services. The company acts as a "revenue partner for video, internet and communications providers, device manufacturers, and enterprises". Its purchase of Zimbra is likely to be completed within 45 days. The cost of the deal is around $24.5 million, with Synacor paying $17.3 million in cash alongside 3 million shares (at $3.00 per share), $600,000 in share warrants, and $2 million through "earn-outs" over the next 18 months. The deal makes Synacor the "largest provider of ISP email solutions in the US".
Zimbra, which has headquarters in Frisco, Texas, USA, is a rival to cloud-based solutions such as Office 365 and Google for Work and offers a similar suite of software solutions. These include email, file sharing, and calendar sharing, and like the other solutions mentioned, Zimbra is designed specifically for mobile and the cloud platforms and allows users to work from any location. The acquisition will help Synacor expand into "enterprise and international markets". Zimbra brings more than 2,500 small business customers, around 1000 government customers and 1,000 Value Added Resellers (VARs) to Synacor's books. In addition, Zimbra's solutions have "millions" of users worldwide, many of which pay a regular subscription fee for services.
"Email has been and continues to be important to our internet service provider customers, and has been a double-digit growth business for Synacor this year, driving portal traffic and monetization," explained Himesh Bhise, the CEO of Synacor. "We now have an even more compelling value proposition offering Zimbra's on-premise technology as well as Synacor's managed service solutions and advertising products."
Do you know of any other companies involved in acquisitions? Let us know the details. Add your comments below.
