Synacor Files For IPO, Acquires HTML5 Cloud OS Carbyn For $1.1M

Online content, portal and front-end technology solution Synacor filed its amended S-1 today for an IPO looking to raise $75 million. The filing revealed that this month Synacor acquiredCarbyn, an HTML5 operating system that lets users put their files, applications and more in the cloud and access them from any device’s browser. It paid $1.1 million in total for the company, with $600,000 paid up front with $500,000 to be delivered in April 2013, and it hired 7 Carbyn employees.
The companies are a great fit, a veritable match made in the cloud. Synacor helps telecom and cable service providers set up websites on its managed, hosted platform where their customers can access ”e-mail, security, online games, music and authentication of TV Everywhere”. That means Synacor already handles all your web-based, and TV services, but is missing what lives on your OS. Carbyn’s OS that can be accessed from anwhere will fill this gap and let Synacor’s clients provide their customers with an expansive set of services in a single-sign on package.

Major stockholders of Synacor who will each be selling about a quarter of their shares include Intel Corporation, Walden International, Crystal Internet Ventures, Advantage Capital Partners, andNorth Atlantic Capital. These companies all contributed to Synacor’s $17 million Series C round in 2006. Some additional facts from the filing include:

• 6,818,170 shares will be made available at between $10 and $12 a share, 5,454,545 shares from the company and 1,363,625 shares from stockholders
• 2011 revenue was roughly $91 million, up 37% from its $66.2 million revenue for 2010.
• 2011 income from operations is estimated to be between $3.8 million and $4.2 million, compared to a loss from operations of $3.3 million in 2010
• Over the three months that ended December 31, 2011, Synacor-powered sites had an average of 18.7 million unique visitors per month, as measured by comScor

As mobile demand for access to television and OS-based content increases, Carbyn should become an increasingly valuable component of Synacor. The Ontario-based Carbyn started just a year ago, and the founders said it was looking for its first funding when it made waves in September when it launched at TechCrunch Disrupt. Seems like Synacor picked up Carbyn’s anywhere OS at just the right time.
Source:http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/30/synacor-ipo-carbyn/