Four Winds Interactive enters strategic partnership with Vista Equity Partners
Visual communications software provider Four Winds Interactive announced a strategic partnership with investment firm Vista Equity Partners on Tuesday, paving the way for substantial growth and technical innovation in the months and years ahead. The financial details of the agreement were not disclosed. However, FWI hinted that this is the first major VC investment it has sought since its beginning. “Since our start in 2005, we’ve built a company that I’m very proud of, and we’ve done it without a lot of capital,” said Co-Founder and CEO David Levin in a statement. “We debated partnering with an investment firm for a while and I feel like now is the right time, and Vista is the right partner.” [Read more.]
SendGrid’s acquisition by Twilio complete
In October 2018, SendGrid announced it would be acquired by San Francisco-based cloud communications company Twilio. This week, that deal was finalized. The transaction was valued around $3 billion — $1 billion more than originally anticipated — and will help expand Twilio’s API capabilities to encompass a broader spectrum of digital communications, giving its customers the ability to tap into SendGrid’s powerful email marketing API. Looking ahead, SendGrid will operate as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Twilio and will continue to be led by SendGrid’s current CEO Sameer Dholakia, who will report to Twilio’s CEO and Co-Founder Jeff Lawson. [Read more.]
Personal Capital raises $50M Series F to drive continued growth of fintech platform
Digital wealth management company Personal Capital raised a whopping $50 million in Series F funding yesterday at its highest valuation to date, bringing its total funding to more than $265 million. The round follows another year of tremendous growth. In 2018, the company, which has a large office in Denver, made several key executive hires, launched a new office in Atlanta, rolled out several new products features and partnerships, and moved its headquarters from San Carlos, California to Redwood Shores, California to accommodate its rapidly expanding team. More recently, the fintech company surpassed $8.5 billion in assets under management and 2 million registered users on its platform, which manages and tracks more than $650 billion in account value. The round was led by Canadian financial services investment firm IGM Financial Inc., which also led the Personal Capital’s Series E. [Read more.]
Covered Insurance Solutions expands C-level leadership with 2 new hires
Tech-driven insurance marketplace Covered added two critical leaders to its team on Monday, at a time when the company is experiencing rapid expansion. Robert S. Brennan joined the team as chief revenue officer and Mickey Freeman came on as chief operating officer. Brennan first got involved with the startup in June 2018 as a member of its advisory board and has played a key role guiding its channel partner strategy and product development initiatives. Prior to his new role, he served as the executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development at mortgage service provider, Specialized Loan Servicing. Though not an insurance industry vet, Freeman brings with him 25 years of experience in business management, operations and marketing. Together with Covered’s other C-level leaders, Brennan and Freeman hope to help push the company through its next phase of growth. [Read more.]
Ball Corporation partners with mindSpark Learning in support of STEMpath program
On Tuesday, Ball Corporation signed on as the newest partner to national STEM education nonprofit, mindSpark Learning, and its recently launched STEMpath program. The program, which kicked off its first cohort on Jan. 23, is a 12-month graduate-level certification for educators that offers STEM coursework, work-based learning externships and professional learning opportunities that prepare teachers to bring forward-thinking STEM education back to their own classrooms. Ball joins organizations like Couragion, Morgridge Family Foundation, Colorado Succeeds, Metropolitan State University, Bitsbox and Pathway 2 Tomorrow in supporting mindSpark’s push to transform STEM certification for educators. [Read more.]
