The Big One

A breakdown on the day’s biggest Inno story.

Lucy: For the second day in a row, we have an M&A story as the biggest story of the day so far.

After Somerville-based SmartBear announced yesterday its acquisition of a development platform with offices in France and San Francisco, now it’s time for a Boston-based company to be acquired.

USA Today publisher Gannett Co. has reached an agreement to acquire online advertising company WordStream for $130M in cash “plus up to $20M payable in 2019 and 2020 if certain revenue goals are met,” MarketWatch reported.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter. As of last year, WordStream had more than 200 employees in its HQ inside the Prudential Center.

In The Know

The Inno stories you need to read today.

Making Moves

Inside the people, companies and organizations making moves in Boston.

Lucy: Over the years, countless startups have tried to profit from the banquet of the wedding industry. New York City-based Zola, for example, took home $100M in Series D funding as part of its quest to reinvent the wedding registry. Other ventures help grooms rent a tux for the big day, or assist couples in purchasing diamonds – completely online. As its name suggests, Boston-based Mayflower Venues assists in finding the perfect place to say “I do.” Born out of MIT, Mayflower raised $25K from Rough Draft Ventures and an additional $150K in a convertible note round, co-founder and CEO Sam McElhinney told me. Read more: Meet a Local Startup That Looks Like “the Airbnb for Wedding Venues” (But It’s Not, Says CEO)

The NEVYs, Baby!

See the tech winners.

KG: The New England Venture Capital Association’s NEVY awards were back for the 6th time last night at the House of Blues. This year was Star Wars themed and the lightsabers were legit.
Here are the technology category winners:

Company of the Year in AI, ML, and Blockchain Technology: Circle
Consumer Company of the Year: CarGurus
Company of the Year in CleanTech and Energy: Ionic Materials
Companies of the Year in Robotics, Hardware and Transportation Technology: Desktop Metal and Vesper Technologies
Cybersecurity Company of the Year: CA Veracode
SaaS/Software Companies of the Year: DRIFT and iSee AI

Fund of the Year: Accomplice, Canaan, Flybridge Capital, Oak HC/FT.

See more here. Congrats to this year’s winners!

New Money

Your daily funding roundup.

KG: Fuze (fka ThinkingPhones) raised a monster round of $150M led by Boston-based Summit Partners, with participation from Bessemer Venture Partners and other existing investors, bringing Fuze’s total funding to $484.8M. Fuze is a remote collaboration company with voice and video solutions.

Player Personnel

Who’s moving where.

Lucy: Two C-level appointments at Acquia. Former Akamai exec Chris Andersen joined the company as CFO, while former Micro Focus and Hewlett Packard Enterprise exec Stephen Reny assumed the role of COO. They’re the first executive appointments for CEO Mike Sullivan, who joined last December.

KG: Kerry Salerno is now Babson College’s CMO and VP of marketing. Salerno was previously at Northeastern University for 14 years, where she ultimately served as VP of enrollment, marketing and recruitment.

Lucy: Healthcare IT security company Imprivata announced the appointment of Wes Wright to CTO. Most recently, Wright held the same role at Sutter Health.

In The Community

The events and happenings to know about tonight and this week.

KG: If you’re a life sciences entrepreneur, it’ll be worth swinging by Novartis on May 31st for the Swissnex Boston Life Sciences Global Pitch Fest. All the details are here.