Data Spotlight: M&A surpasses $1.2 bln in February

Mergers and acquisitions soared in February.

Twenty U.S.-based venture-backed companies were acquired in the month. Of those, five disclosed deal value totaling $1.2 billion, an 84 percent increase from the nearly $655 million in disclosed valuations in January, according to preliminary data from Thomson Reuters.

The No. 1 acquisition in February with a disclosed price was Solidfire Inc, acquired by NetApp Inc for $870 million. Boulder, Colorado-based Solidfire, which provides data-storage systems, had raised $128 million in venture funding from New Enterprise Associates, Novak Biddle Venture Partners, Samsung Venture Investment Corp and Valhalla Partners, among others, according to Thomson Reuters.

NEA was an investor in two VC-backed companies that sold during the month: Solidfire and Gilt Groupe Inc. Hudson’s Bay Co purchased Gilt Groupe for $250 million.

DFJ also had two exits in the month: Gilt Groupe and Technorati. San Francisco-based ad-tech provider Technorati raised $33.8 million from DFJ, DG Incubation, Foundry Group and Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Synacor bought the company for an undisclosed price.

Also of note in the February M&A data is that Lerer Hippeau Ventures achieved another exit. The New York-based firm was an investor in nine companies acquired in 2015.

In February, Lerer Hippeau saw another portfolio sell when luxury lifestyle products seller AHAlife Holdings Ltd bought design marketplace Bezar Inc for $200,000. Bezar had raised slightly more than $2 million in seed-stage funding from Lerer Hippeau, Brooklyn Bridge Ventures and several individual investors.

To download an Excel file of February 2016 M&A data: Venture-backed M&A (February 2016)

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