Silicon Valley Funding News - Week of March 29, 2021. FAAMG Acquired 28 Startups in 2020

Congrats to Jonathan, Daniel, and the Anyroad team for raising Series A led by Andreessen Horowitz.  I am honored to be an investor and part of their journey since 2015!

Big tech platforms are hunting to buy companies in spite of  COVID-19 and increased regulatory scrutiny.  In 2020, Amazon, Apple, Google, Facebook and Microsoft acquired 28 startups combined. 

I found it fascinating to learn the direction of these big tech platforms by studying their acquisition events. Will Amazon get into autonomous car and compete with Tesla?  Will Apple get into VR/AR?  Will Facebook start developing their own games and compete with Microsoft?

Here is the complete list of acquisition events of 2020 by FAAMG:

• 🇺🇸Amazon acquired Zoox (autonomous vehicle) for $1.2 billion
• 🇺🇸Apple acquired Vilynx (publisher analytics) for $50M 
• 🇺🇸Apple acquired ScoutFM (podcast) 
• 🇺🇸Apple acquired SPACES (VR)
• 🇸🇬Apple acquired Mobeewave (payment) for $100M
• 🇺🇸Apple acquired Fleetsmith (device management) 
• 🇸🇬Apple acquired Inductiv (data AI) 
• 🇺🇸Apple acquired NEXTVR (VR) for $100M
• 🇸🇪Apple acquired Voysis (voice assistant) 
• 🇺🇸Facebook acquired Kustomer (CRM) for $1B
• 🇸🇬Facebook acquired Lemnis Technologies (AR)
• 🇸🇪Facebook acquired Mapillary (imagery platform)
• 🇺🇸Facebook acquired Giphy (GIFs database) for $400M
• 🇺🇸Facebook acquired Sanzaru Games (game studio)
• 🇬🇧Facebook acquired Scape Technologies (AR) 
• 🇺🇸Google acquired Neverware (desktop OS)
• 🇨🇦Google acquired North (wearable) 
• 🇺🇸Google acquired AppSheet (no-code platform)
• 🇮🇪Google acquired Pointy (eCommerce search) for $163M 
• 🇺🇸Microsoft acquired Smash.gg (game streaming) 
• 🇺🇸Microsoft acquired ZeniMax (game media) for $7.5B
• 🇺🇸Microsoft acquired Orions Systems (healthcare data management) 
• 🇺🇸Microsoft acquired ADRM Software (data models)
• 🇬🇧Microsoft acquired Softomotive (RPA)
• 🇬🇧Microsoft acquired Metaswitch Networks (communication network)
• 🇺🇸Microsoft acquired CyberX (security) for $165M
• 🇺🇸Microsoft acquired Affirmed Networks (mobile network) for $1.4B

Enjoy!

This week a total of 23 startups raised $735.1M in funding, 2 M&As:

• $171.1M goes to 8 Enterprise startups
• $209.2M goes to 3 FinTech startups
• $41M goes to 1 HR startup
• $12M goes to 1 E-Commerce startup
• $55M goes to 1 Mobile startup
• $25M goes to 1 AI startup
• $20M goes to 1 Education startup
• $2.3M goes to 1 Gaming startup
• $55M goes to 1 Hardware startup
• $63.5M goes to 2 Healthcare startups
• $61M goes to 2 BioTech startups
• $20M goes to 1 Other startup