M&A

OpenAI acquires Odessia, travel startup created by Sonder founder (opens techcrunch.com)

Odessia was founded by Sonder's Francis Davidson; OpenAI has not said what it plans for travel.

Oura to acquire AI-native primary care startup Counsel Health for $625M (opens techcrunch.com)

Oura buys Counsel Health for $625M weeks after postponing its own IPO; Oura added Counsel's AI chatbot to its app earlier this year.

Uber launches Uber Parking, an in-app parking reservation tool powered by its SpotHero acquisition, in 15 US cities (opens theverge.com)

Uber launches Uber Parking, an in-app parking reservation tool powered by its SpotHero acquisition, in 15 US cities, including Chicago, NYC, and San Francisco — Powered by its SpotHero acquisition, Uber's new parking reservation tool is a play for commuter loyalty — and a staging ground for its…

Voters reject AI data centers, Shield AI’s $5.3B Echodyne deal, and a Seattle startup’s rare double exit (opens geekwire.com)

GeekWire's podcast covers Shield AI's $5.3B deal for drone-tracking radar maker Echodyne, voters backing data center limits in 40 of 41 local ballot measures, and a Seattle startup acquired twice.

Google has acquired Crusoe's data center site in southeast Wyoming (opens crusoe.ai)

Crusoe's own update on handing its Wyoming data center campus to Google; TechCrunch says the deal shows how hard massive AI data centers are to develop.

Palo Alto Networks in talks to buy AI agent security startup Clutch for $500M (opens techcrunch.com)

Clutch, backed by Lightspeed and SignalFire, was last valued at $85 million, according to a source.

Dropbox acquires Tigris Data for $350M to bolster its AI infrastructure (opens techcrunch.com)

The deal is expected to support the development of DBX Agent Cloud, a new storage platform aimed at developers building AI models and agents.

Autonomous combat drone maker Shield AI buys radar startup Echodyne for $5.3B (opens siliconangle.com)

Shield AI agreed to buy the Bill Gates-backed radar maker for up to $5.3B and is raising $2.5B to pay for it, including $1B in new funding at a $28.8B valuation.

Sources: Unity has held talks to be acquired by a consortium including Silver Lake and Saudi Arabia's PIF, discussing a ~$25B valuation (opens techmeme.com)

Sources: Unity has held talks to be acquired by a consortium including Silver Lake, which owns 8% of Unity, and Saudi Arabia's PIF, discussing a ~$25B valuation — Gaming software provider Unity Software (U.N) has held talks to be acquired by a consortium of investors including private …

Dropbox acquires Tigris Data for $350M, releases new AI productivity features (opens siliconangle.com)

Dropbox is buying cloud storage startup Tigris Data alongside DBX Agent Cloud, a storage service for AI agents.

Five9 buys contact center intelligence startup Level AI after posting narrow earnings beat (opens siliconangle.com)

Five9 announced a $325M all-cash deal for the AI-native contact center rival alongside its Q3 results.

Sources: NYT has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Letterboxd for roughly $330M (opens nytimes.com)

Sources: NYT has entered exclusive negotiations to acquire Letterboxd for roughly $330M; A24 dropped out of negotiations after price expectations rose — The roughly $330 million deal for the cinephile community site would be part of an effort to add new products and services to the company's…

OpenAI to acquire Pierre Computer Company (opens openai.com)

OpenAI announced it will buy the low-profile developer tooling startup; terms were not disclosed, and observers read it as a shot at GitHub for the age of agents.

Conductor is joining Meta (opens conductor.build)

Meta acquired Conductor, whose app runs several coding agents at once; terms were not disclosed.

A rare second exit: AI startup Suplari acquired by Docusign nearly 3 years after Microsoft spinout (opens geekwire.com)

Docusign is buying Suplari, which uses AI to analyze corporate spending and supplier data, years after its team bought it back from Microsoft.

CrowdStrike to acquire cybersecurity startups Fiddler AI, Dreadnode for reported $495M (opens siliconangle.com)

CrowdStrike is buying two startups that secure AI agents, announced alongside an update to its Falcon Guardian product.

Salesforce announces plans to acquire Cresta, a provider of AI-powered contact center automation software; source: Salesforce agreed to pay $2.7B for Cresta (The Information) (opens theinformation.com)

Salesforce signed a definitive agreement to buy Cresta, a nine-year-old maker of AI contact-center automation software; The Information reports the price at $2.7 billion.

Marvell to acquire optical component maker Lumentum in massive $115B deal (opens siliconangle.com)

Lumentum investors would receive 4.5 Marvell shares for each Lumentum share in the $115 billion deal.

Omen AI adds liquid know-how in $16 million Aquatic Labs acquisition (opens techcrunch.com)

Two startups tackling the data center water problem are joining forces in a $16 million deal.

Saudi Aramco acquires a 49% stake in AI startup Humain, contributing ~$2.6B in cash in 2026 plus AI, compute, and digital assets; Saudi Arabia's PIF retains 51% (Dean Takahashi/GamesBeat) (opens gamesbeat.com)

Aramco contributes about $2.6B in cash in 2026 plus AI, compute and digital assets for 49% of Humain; Saudi Arabia's PIF keeps 51%.

ServiceNow confirms it acquired Israeli startup Sweep to speed up customers' migrations to its CRM, for an undisclosed price estimated at hundreds of millions (Allon Sinai/CTech) (opens calcalistech.com)

Sweep speeds up customer migrations to ServiceNow's CRM; the price was undisclosed but is estimated in the hundreds of millions.

Salesforce to buy Rune in its most significant national security deal (opens thenextweb.com)

Rune's AI software helps the military plan supplies near the front line; it joins Missionforce, the defence business Salesforce launched a year ago.

Salesforce’s M&A spree continues with a reported $375M deal for defense tech startup Rune (opens techcrunch.com)

The AI logistics startup would bolster Salesforce's Missionforce defense platform.

Salesforce acquires Rune, which makes AI military logistics software, sources say for $375M in cash and stock (opens resiliencemedia.co)

Rune makes AI military logistics software and had raised $30M from a16z and others; TechCrunch says it will join Salesforce's Missionforce defense platform.

DoorDash to acquire Instacart (opens about.doordash.com)

OpenAI-backed Thrive Holdings acquires ADT (opens techcrunch.com)

Thrive Holdings plans to bring AI to ADT's home security business.

Deepgram acquires Pipecat-maker Daily to bolster its voice AI infrastructure (opens techcrunch.com)

Deepgram is buying Daily, the company behind Pipecat, to deepen its real-time voice and video infrastructure.

Marvell nears a deal to buy Nvidia-backed Lumentum, Bloomberg reports (opens thenextweb.com)

Bloomberg reports Marvell is in advanced talks to buy Lumentum, which makes the lasers that move data between AI chips; a deal could be announced as soon as next week.

US agency approves Amazon Leo’s $11.5B acquisition of Globalstar (opens reuters.com)

Globalstar runs the satellite service behind Apple's iPhone emergency features.

Sources: the US DOJ has inquired about the impact of Nvidia's Hugging Face deal on AI competition (opens reuters.com)

Sources: the US DOJ has inquired about the impact of Nvidia's Hugging Face deal on AI competition, as antitrust enforcers continue to probe Nvidia's conduct — The US Department of Justice has made inquiries about how Nvidia's (NVDA.O) $12.93 billion deal to buy open-source platform Hugging Face …

Sources: Marvell is in advanced talks to buy data center optics maker Lumentum, whose market value is ~$83B (opens bloomberg.com)

Sources: Marvell is in advanced talks to buy data center optics maker Lumentum, whose market value is ~$83B; the deal could be announced as soon as next week — Marvell Technology Inc.

Guidewire buys Hyperexponential for $1.7B in cash (opens techcrunch.com)

Guidewire is paying cash for the insurance pricing startup; the deal is expected to close next year.

Intel buys quantum software pioneer Classiq for $2.2B (opens siliconangle.com)

Intel is buying the Israeli quantum-programming software startup; SiliconANGLE puts the price at $2.2B, Bloomberg at about $2.3B.

Sources: DoorDash is in advanced talks to acquire Instacart, and the deal could be finalized as soon as this week and could value Instacart at ~$17B (opens wsj.com)

Sources: DoorDash is in advanced talks to acquire Instacart, and the deal could be finalized as soon as this week and could value Instacart at ~$17B — Deal could be completed as soon as this week, people familiar with the matter say — DoorDash is in advanced talks to acquire food …

Bending Spoons completes its $1.355bn Miro acquisition (opens thenextweb.com)

Bending Spoons now owns Miro, the online whiteboard used by more than 250,000 organisations. The Milan group closed the all-cash Miro deal on Monday, it said in a statement on Business Wire. Bending Spoons agreed to buy Miro in September at an enterprise value of $1.355bn.

LSEG agrees to acquire Octus, an NY-based provider of credit intelligence, data, and workflow software, from Permira and Octus' management for $3.54B in cash (Dominic Chopping/Wall Street Journal) (opens wsj.com)

LSEG is buying credit intelligence and workflow software provider Octus from Permira and Octus' management for $3.54B in cash.

Icertis veterans reunite as AI startup HumanTronik acquires tech consultancy CloudMoyo (opens geekwire.com)

HumanTronik, co-founded this year by Icertis co-founder Monish Darda, acquired CloudMoyo, the consultancy Darda helped spin out of Icertis in 2015.

Foursquare co-founder says equity holders saw no returns from the company’s acquisition (opens techcrunch.com)

Foursquare raised $411M according to PitchBook data, yet its co-founder says equity holders saw no returns from the final acquisition.

Sources: advisers within Elon Musk's empire are pushing to announce a SpaceX-Tesla merger by H1 2027 (opens bloomberg.com)

Bloomberg reports advisers want to announce a SpaceX-Tesla merger by the first half of 2027; Reuters separately reports Musk's public endorsement worried some insiders.

When A Startup Sells, Its Employees’ Equity Plans Can Change Overnight (opens news.crunchbase.com)

Startup acquisitions can reshape employees’ finances and careers, with individual outcomes depending on a variety of conditions. Guest author Ron Honig, co-CEO and managing partner of From-Honig Family Office, suggests that before making major life changes, employees should clarify their award…