Deals done this past week

30 Jan 2012

An overview of the week in deals in the Irish and global technology sector.

Twitter buys news sharing app player Summify

Twitter has bought a Canadian mobile news sharing app, start-up Summify, for an undisclosed sum. The move suggests Twitter wants to put some order on its non-stop fire hose of news and lore.

Summify’s goal is to connect people via mobile and social with the most relevant news for them in the most time-efficient manner.

It is understood that the entire Summify team will move from Canada to Twitter’s headquarters in San Francisco.

Summify’s digital odyssey actually began in Romania; the company joined an incubator in Vancouver and its ability to make sense out of the news stream obviously caught Twitter’s eye.

Rhapsody acquires Napster UK and Germany in first move to Europe

Subscription music service Rhapsody has acquired Napster’s UK and Germany operations in a bid to expand to Europe and take on rival service Spotify.

Rhapsody, which lets users stream music from internet-connected devices, will retain all of Napster International’s employees and will operate under the Napster brand in the UK and Germany.

Napster’s subscribers will be migrated to Rhapsody’s infrastructure in March, which will give them new features such as improved speed and new web enhancements. It will maintain the music libraries that users have built.

Accenture to acquire consulting firm Neo Metrics Analytics S.L.

Global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company Accenture has entered into an agreement to acquire consulting firm Neo Metrics Analytics S.L. for an undisclosed sum.

Neo Metrics Analytics S.L., based in Madrid, Spain, specialises in optimisation and predictive analytics.

The acquisition will add Neo Metrics’ research and development assets and capabilities to Accenture’s analytics portfolio, with the aim of enhancing Accenture’s ability to help clients rapidly analyse and predict customer behaviour and respond to key outcomes.

Accenture will also gain new social network analysis capabilities, such as the ability to identify hierarchies within online customer communities. This will allow Accenture to help clients to more effectively target key influencers in the customer community.

Accenture teams up with RBS 6 Nations

Global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company Accenture has teamed up with the RBS 6 Nations to be its official technology partner for the 2012 and 2013 RBS 6 Nations Rugby Championships.

This means Accenture will deliver the official RBS 6 Nations Championship free mobile app for iPhone, which has been designed to provide fans with stats, team news, video highlights and up-to-date scores throughout the rugby tournament.

Mark Ryan, country managing director, Accenture Ireland, said Accenture Mobility Services was tapped to help the RBS 6 Nations respond to the needs of its changing consumers and to enhance the experience of rugby fans.

Realex to process e-payments for Paddy Power

Realex Payments has secured a deal to provide payment processing for multi-channel betting house PaddyPower, which operates 365 retail outlets and is the sixth-largest online gaming business in the UK and Ireland.

The deal involves Realex Payments providing payment processing for Paddy Power across a variety of channels, currencies, regions and card types, as well as providing a card tokenisation solution.

Realex Payments will provide distinct accounts for each acquirer, channel and for each payment type – a total of 12 distinct channels of payment, each capable of processing in both euro and sterling.