What companies are finding funding or having a big exit? From startup investments to grants and acquisitions, Dallas Innovates tracks what’s happening in North Texas money. Sign up for our e-newsletter, and share your deal news here.
Netflix Acquires Local Video Game Developer
Aiming to expand on the number of titles in its catalog and grow its in-house development team, streaming giant Netflix announced acquiring Allen-based Boss Fight Entertainment for an undisclosed amount.
Netflix bought Boss Fight—its third gaming acquisition—as part of its ad-free games effort.
In addition to helping Netflix push into the gaming space–a move it announced last year—the company said North Texas headquarters and other studio operations in Austin and Seattle will help it tap into a talent pool that extends beyond California.
Launched in 2013, Boss Fight is the developer of the mobile fantasy role-playing game “Dungeon Boss.” The company was created by CEO David Rippy, Chief Creative Officer Bill Jackson, and Chief Operation Officer Scott Winsett—all of whom held leadership roles with video game firm Zynga.
“Boss Fight’s mission is to bring simple, beautiful, and fun game experiences to our players wherever they want to play,” said the Boss Fight co-founders in a joint statement. “Netflix’s commitment to offer ad-free games as part of members’ subscriptions enables game developers like us to focus on creating delightful gameplay without worrying about monetization. We couldn’t be more excited to join Netflix at this early stage as we continue doing what we love to do while helping to shape the future of games on Netflix together.”
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[DI image; istockphoto illustration]
Dallas tech startup becomes unicorn
⟫ Just weeks after emerging from stealth, a local tech startup has become the region’s newest unicorn.
Island, a company that says it’s creating the “desktop of the future,” unveiled a $115 million Series B funding round led by Insight Partners at a $1.3 billion valuation, bringing its total amount raised to more than $200 million since exiting stealth in early February.
Formed in 2020, Island’s enterprise-focused browser is built upon Chromium, which powers names like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge. The browser protects a company’s SaaS tools and internal web applications from data leaks with security features like web filtering and isolation, exploit prevention, and zero-trust network access.
Funding isn’t the only thing that’s growing at Island. At the beginning of the month, the company announced it’s expanding its operations to Europe by opening an office in Reading, England, and naming former Forescout Technologies VP Ashley Brinsford as its head of EMEA sales.
Alkami Technology headquarters in Plano. [Photo Courtesy Alkami Technology]
Alkami makes its largest acquisition to-date
⟫ A Plano-based fintech has made its third—and largest—acquisition to date.
Alkami Technology, which focuses on cloud-based digital banking solutions, announced plans to acquire Ohio’s Segmint, an account and transaction data technology company, in a $135.5 million deal.
Alkami said the move will help its better data modeling and grow customer relationships. The company is also expecting Segmint to expand its addressable market by about $1 billion and bring in around $7 million in revenue, based on a transaction close date of June 30.
CyrusOne’s Houston West III data center, one of four being acquired by Dallas-based DataBank. [Photo: CyrusOne]
CyrusOne finalizes $15B acquisition
⟫ Data center real estate investment trust CyrusOne is officially a private company.
The Dallas-based firm has finalized its acquisition by KKR and Global Infrastructure Partners in an all-cash deal, including the assumption of debt, valued at around $15 billion.
Plans for the acquisition were announced last November. Previously, the company traded on the Nasdaq under the ticker CONE.
“Closing this transaction begins an exciting new chapter for CyrusOne as we continue our global expansion,” said Dave Ferdman, co-founder, president, and CEO of CyrusOne, in a statement. “We are very well positioned to capitalize on the acceleration in growth opportunities driven by strong underlying secular demand trends and create substantial value for all of our stakeholders.”
Dallas firm invests in medical device company
⟫ Dallas-based finance company SWK Holding Corporation, which focuses on commercial-stage health care and life sciences companies, has made a “significant” growth funding investment in California-based Advanced Oxygen Therapy. The company, which also has offices in Ireland develops topical oxygen treatment medical devices, which help heal chronic wounds. The money will help the company build out its clinical support and commercialization platforms globally.
Local firm invests in Dallas platform-as-a-service company
⟫ Southlake-based private equity firm Gauge Capital made its second deal this year, recapitalizing Dallas-based Exigo, a platform-as-a-service company, the Dallas Business Journal reports. Since forming in 1997, Exigo has grown to operate in 120 countries with its direct-selling platform. Company Co-founder Peter Zielke said the Gauge investment will help it expand product development and its sales and marketing operations internationally.
Crow Holdings raises $750M for opportunities fund
⟫ Crow Holdings, a Dallas-based real estate investment and development firm, announced closing its Crow Holdings Development Opportunities Fund I, raising $750 million in commitments over the last six months. The fund is focused on developing industrial, multifamily, and “select specialty” properties. Crow said the new fund represents an extension of Crow’s ninth diversified value-add real estate fund last year, which raised about $2.3 billion.
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RC Ventures ups its stake in GameStop
⟫ As GameStop looks to focus more on e-commerce and expand into the NFT marketplace, activist investor Ryan Cohen’s RC Ventures is upping its stake in the Grapevine-based video game retailer. The firm, led by the Chewy.com co-founder, first took a 10% stake in GameStop in 2020. It has now upped that to 11.9%, with Cohen tweeting “I put my money where my mouth is.” According to The Dallas Morning News, the stake represents 9.1 million shares that are valued at a total of more than $86 million.
CBRE invests in Fifth Wall’s Climate Technology Fund
⟫ CBRE, the Dallas-based commercial real estate services and investment giant, is investing in Los Angeles venture capital firm Fifth Wall’s Climate Technology Fund, which is focused on decarbonization efforts in commercial real estate, energy, and manufacturing industries. CBRE said it hopes the move will provide it insight and access to early-stage companies that will help it reach its own sustainability goals and solutions.
Cypress Growth Capital invests $3M in digital health company
⟫ Dallas’ Cypress Growth Capital, a tech- and software-focused investor, invested $3 million in in-dilutive growth funding in ThoroughCare, a Pittsburgh-based digital health care company. Launched in 2013, ThoroughCare says it provides care coordination software to nearly 600 clinics and physician practices across the U.S.
Want more?
Read more in Kevin Cummings’ recent Follow the Money deal roundup:
[Illustration by sidmay via iStock]
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