Work From Home Culture Fuels Mergers & Acquisitions

Despite global economic disruption, enterprise-software M&A deals in the first half of the 2020 were down just 5% from the second half of 2019

Businesses and investors don’t see WFH culture and online education disappearing at any point in the near future.

Technology & Innovation ventures that are creating software & business apparatus for videoconferencing and web based businesses operations are turning out to be hot acquisition focuses for huge Investors & Companies during the pandemic.

A video conferencing software company, Lifesize Inc. announced a deal to buy Kaptivo – a collaboration-tool creator, referring to a developing interest and growth of work from home applications.

A drawn out advance change can be seen in the use of remote-collaboration tools for both education and business, the acquisitions of Lifesize and Kaptivo capitalize on this growing trend.

The move to Work-From-Home in the course of recent months—now and again denoting a perpetual change—has pulled together the sights of numerous corporate and PE Buyers towards acquisitions that help construct capacities in digital communications and e-commerce, such as online payments and financial services, supply-chain logistics and last-mile fulfillment software.

expects robust M&A activity in the second half of the year, as corporate and private-equity buyers “jockey for position in the new, postpandemic business environment,” Mr. Parizek said.

Despite the global economic disruption sparked by the outbreak, Hampleton recorded 602 enterprise-software M&A deals in the first half of the year, down just 5% from the second half of 2019. Total disclosed deal value was $34 billion, down from $71 billion for the same period last year, the report said.

Most of the largest deals so far this year were struck early in the first quarter, before the coronavirus initially took hold in the U.S. and Europe, according to Hampleton.

Verizon Communications Inc. in April agreed to buy videoconferencing company Blue Jeans Network Inc., paying less than $500 million for a major Zoom Video Communications Inc. rival, a person familiar with the terms told The Wall Street Journal.

The platform gives Verizon the ability to help its corporate customers develop telemedicine, remote learning and virtual training services, a Verizon spokeswoman said at the time.

Similarly in the fintech space, according to Mr. Azaham, as banks and other financial services close branches or restrict hours, many are accelerating the use of online digital tools. At the same time, online shopping, food orders and other e-commerce transactions have soared during the pandemic, as more people stay in their homes.

Mastercard Inc. in June announced an $825 million deal to purchase open-banking platform Finicity Inc., a 10-year-old Salt Lake City software maker that aggregates users’ financial data in real time. The tool helps third-party banks, mortgage lenders and other digital services to quickly access a customer’s financial data.