Acquisitions are in the air

Top News

• Stripe is in early discussions to acquire a crypto startup: Stripe is reportedly in talks to acquire crypto infrastructure startup Bridge for $1 billion as the fintech giant looks to deepen its involvement in stablecoins. The acquisition, still under negotiation, would be Stripe’s largest to date, helping them strengthen their crypto payment offerings. Bridge, founded by Zach Abrams and Sean Yu, supports stablecoin transactions and has processed over $5 billion in payments, serving major clients like SpaceX and Coinbase.

• Permira acquires Squarespace: Squarespace is no longer publicly traded after private equity firm Permira completed its acquisition, offering $46.50 per share and valuing the company at around $7.2 billion. Despite initial concerns from shareholders about the offer, the deal went through, marking one of the biggest take-private transactions of 2024. CEO Anthony Casalena will stay on, retaining a significant portion of his equity, while Accel and General Atlantic remain key investors.

• New rules from the FCC: The FCC has approved new regulations requiring all mobile phones to be compatible with hearing aids, ensuring that people with hearing loss can access any handset on the market. These rules also ban proprietary Bluetooth standards in hearing aids and mandate clearer labelling for hearing aid compatibility at the point of sale. Great news for the hearing impaired—no more guesswork when choosing a phone!

Cyera’s big acquisition

We’ve got some exciting news from a TWiST500 company - and they’ve even been on the pod (E1989 ICYMI). Cyera, the fast-growing cybersecurity unicorn, just made a big move by acquiring Trail Security for $162 million. Trail, a stealth-mode startup, focuses on data loss prevention, which fits perfectly with Cyera’s data security posture management platform.

With this acquisition, Cyera is gearing up for even bigger things, including a $200 million fundraising that will boost its valuation to around $3 billion. This comes just six months after raising a hefty $300 million Series C at a $1.4 billion valuation. Talk about growth, right? Already serving big industries like healthcare and finance, Cyera plans to expand its tech and make more acquisitions to meet growing customer demands.

— Erika

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