New York tech companies had a solid 2015, with some big exits. In total, at least 181 New York-based digital tech companies were acquired last year, for a total of over $12.5 billion. That number is likely considerably higher, with quite a few of those deals not disclosing financial details.
Last year's largest acquisition was Verizon’s purchase of
in June for $50 a share, valuing the company at around $4.4 billion. Verizon is reportedly planning on building an IoT platform as well as expanding their LTE wireless video and streaming capabilities with the acquisition.
The
was snapped up by one of the world’s largest data center providers, San Francisco-based Digital Realty Trust for $1.89 billion. At the time of the deal, Telx managed over $1.3 million square feet of data center space, and leased over half of their 20 facilities from Digital Realty.
Other notable acquisitions include Toronto-based DH Corporation’s $1.25 billion purchase of Fundtech in March, Stockholm-based Cision’s $841 million purchase of PR Newswire and Berlin-based Axel Springer’s $343 million purchase of
. The Germans seemed to be on a New York media buying spree, with Axel Springer also acquiring a stake in
2015 was not the year of the IPO.
That said, Brooklyn-born
had a massive and much-discussed IPO in April. The company priced its initial public offering at $16 a share, making it worth $1.8 billion. Soon thereafter the stock surged, with shares closing at over $30. That didn’t last, and Etsy shares are now hovering around $7 a share.
It’s hard to tell if Etsy’s experience as a publicly traded company had a dampening effect on other late-stage companies in the IPO rumor mill, or if it was just the market in general. Regardless,
, , and
all remain IPO rumors for 2016.
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