Luisa Beltran
Thoma Bravo has agreed to buy Tripwire, a Portland provider of audit software for businesses and government agencies. Financial terms weren't announced. Original investors include Advanced Technology Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, BA Ventures and Institutional Venture Partners. JP Morgan provided financial advice to Tripwire.
Microsoft's $8.5 billion agreement to buy Skype is the largest tech deal this year, according to Thomson Reuters.
Skype, in fact, is Microsoft's largest M&A deal in its history, beating its $6.1 billion buy of aQuantive in 2007. With the sale of Skype, Silver Lake, which led a group to buy a majority of the company in 2009, is expected to make more than three times their investment, a total capital gain of more than $5 billion.
One interesting note? Microsoft stuck it to the bankers with this deal and apparently didn't use any outside financial advisors. Skype relied on Sam Britton and Nick Giovanni of Goldman Sachs, as well as JP Morgan's Rod Reed and Noah Wintroub. Michael Gisser, Rick Madden, Michael Beinus, Lance Etcheverry and Joseph Yaffe of Skadden were Skype's attorneys.
Tabbedout has received $3.7 million in additional funding from New Enterprise Associates, which completes the company's Series A round at $5.75 million. Tabbedout's total financing comes to $6.5 million from investors including NEA, Trellis Partners and angel investors. Austin-based Tabbedout lets users pay their bar and restaurant tab using a smartphone.
Row Sham Bow has raised $3 million in funding from Intersouth Partners. Orlando, Fla.-based Row Sham Bow creates games for social networks. John Glushik of Intersouth will join the company's board.
We have some IPO news today.
First up is LinkedIn. The social networking site for professionals looking for jobs is expected to price its offering on May 18 and trade the next day, sources say.
LinkedIn today set the terms for its IPO. LinkedIn plans to offer 7.84 million shares at $32 to $35 each. Morgan Stanley, BofA Merrill Lynch, J.P. Morgan, Allen & Co. and UBS are underwriters on the deal.
General Atlantic has made a minority investment in Peixe Urbano, a daily deals site in Brazil.
Tiger Global Management, a hedge fund run by Chase Coleman, also invested in the round, says Fernando Marques Oliveira, a General Atlantic MD. He declined to disclose financial terms.
Peixe, of Rio de Janeiro, is the first company to launch group buying in Brazil, Oliveira says. The company was started in March 2010 by CEO Julio Vasconcellos, Emerson Andrade and Alex Tabor, who all met at Stanford University, according to MarketWatch. Peixe Urbano now has 9 million users, has sold 5 million coupons and employs about 600 people. The much bigger Groupon is in Brazil but Peixe established its footprint in the country before them, Oliveira says.
As expected, the death of Osama Bin Laden is a good thing for President Obama.
But is it a game changer? Many of you don't think so. We asked you this week whether Bin Laden’s demise would help Obama in the 2012 election. Nearly half, or 46.3%, said that the terrorist's passing would deliver an initial bump for Obama, but the economy and jobs would still be a major factor in the election.
The Renren IPO, which raised $743 million earlier today, began trading today.
Shares of Renren opened on the NYSE under the ticker "RENN." The stock surged by $5.53 or 39.50% to $19.53 in morning trading. Volume was roughly 38 million shares.
Beijing-based Renren is the first social networking site to go public in the U.S. (Facebook has long been rumored but the company has yet to file).
Renren, the so called "Facebook of China," is expected to price later today.
Beijing-based RenRen is offering 53.1 million ADS at $12 to $14 a share. Each ADS represents three Class A ordinary shares of RenRen, according to a May 2 regulatory filing. Book runners on the deal include Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank Securities and Credit Suisse. Other underwriters include BofA Merrill Lynch, Jefferies, Pacific Crest Securities and Oppenheimer & Co.
The company itself is offering 42.9 million ADSs while shareholders are selling another 10.2 million ADS. Renren expects to trade Wednesday on the NYSE under the ticker "RENN."
Cobalt Technologies said it closed a $20 million Series D funding round led by The Whittemore Collection Ltd., the investment vehicle of Parsons & Whittemore. All of Cobalt's current venture investors participated including Pinnacle Ventures, Malaysian Life Sciences Capital Fund, VantagePoint Capital Partners, Life Sciences Partners (LSP), @Ventures, Harris & Harris and Burrill and Co.