Weekly Digest: Intch Saves Russian Startups, Amazon Acquires MGM, DeepWell Develops Therapeutical Games

Amazon Acquired MGM for $8,45 Billion

As Amazon states, the company intends to "preserve the legacy of MGM", as well as provide viewers with convenient access to its works.

According to Mike Hopkins, senior vice president of Prime Video and Amazon Studios, the real financial value of this deal is intellectual property`treasures, which the company plans to rethink and develop together with the talented MGM team.

What is MGM?

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer is an American media company specializing in the production and distribution of film and video products. The studio owns the rights to such famous films as "Rocky", "Silence of the Lambs", "Rain Man", "Terminator", and others. The company also jointly with Danjaq LLC owns the rights to movie series about James Bond, which is MGM's largest asset.

The company was founded in April 1924 by Marcus Loew, who organized the merger of three film producers - Metro Pictures, Goldwyn Pictures of S. Goldwyn and Louis B. Mayer Pictures of L. B. Mayer.

The Deal details

On May 27, 2021, Amazon officially announced the acquisition of MGM for nearly $8.5 billion. Thanks to this deal, the online retailer and the largest cloud provider intends to strengthen the direction of TV content. At the same time, Amazon already has its own studio, Amazon Studios engaged in the production of TV programs.

As previously noted, MGM's largest shareholder was the American hedge fund Anchorage Capital Group. In recent years, it has come under pressure due to weak performance and customer outflows. Therefore, illiquid investments in MGM began to account for the bulk of its investments as the fund size reduced.

Under the agreement terms, Amazon receives the right to show MGM films on its OTT Prime Video platform - over 4 thousand in total, as well as TV shows (more than 17 thousand by the end of May 2021).

Amazon has promised to preserve MGM's legacy and the company's film catalog by providing consumers with simplified access to the works. Presumably, some of the studio's content will soon appear in the Prime Video online cinema, owned by the tech giant.

Deepwell Develops Therapeutic Video Games

The startup creates treatment-based content and helps other developers adapt their own games for therapeutical purposes. As the founders claim, the company will be dedicated to creating best-in-class gameplay that can simultaneously entertain and improve the treatment of many global common diseases.

To date, more than 40 leading game developers and medical research scientists are already helping DeepWell. Their primary goal is to solve important public health problems related to the exacerbation of mental illness caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. They also plan to expand the availability of digital therapeutic devices for the treatment of such diseases.

Deepwell was founded by Mike Wilson, the co-founder of indie game development studio Devolver Digital, and Ryan Douglas, the CEO of medical equipment manufacturer Nextern. They have enlisted the support of many experts both in the field of healthcare and in game development.

What is so special about DeepWell?

Although there are similar projects on the market, the DeepWell`s concept is slightly different. The company has developed a set of processes that comply with the guidelines of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and help ensure compliance with regulatory requirements during the development and deployment stages of projects.

The startup plans not only to create its own games but also to help other developers determine which projects could potentially be useful for treatment. The selected games can use the DeepWell toolkit to implement therapeutic technologies, which will allow the team to obtain all the necessary permissions. And, as Devolver Digital did with indie games, Deepwell will also serve as a publisher.

This is supposed to be a great growth driver of the company and demonstrate that games can be more than just entertainment. The first series of games will be released in 2023.

"Games provide both engagement and therapeutic improvement in mental health treatment. They open up the opportunity for people to think and act differently through self-realization, biofeedback, independence and role-playing games, and can also accelerate the acquisition of new skills by increasing neuroplasticity," - Ryan Douglas says.

Anaplan to Be Sold for $10,7 Million

Thoma Bravo acquires the company for roughly $11 million. The deal is valued 46% higher than the average estimate of the company's market capitalization based on the results of five days of trading last week. Anaplan shareholders will receive $66 per share as part of the deal. The deal will be fully funded with cash.

It is assumed that Anaplan Chief Executive Officer Frank Calderoni will remain at the head of the company.

Background

Anaplan was founded in 2006 and headquartered in San-Francisco. This an innovative cloud platform for financial and operational planning, business modeling, predictive analytics with built-in technology. In a nutshell, the company is developing software that enables companies to plan through the modeling of various business development outcomes.

With the help of Anaplan`algorithms, businesses can create, share, and maintain applications for performing various tasks such as budgeting, sales planning, operational planning, demand forecasting, and the like.

Overall, Anaplan has 2 thousand customers including Coca-Cola Co., Shell PLC, and VMware Inc. The company's shares have been traded on the New York Stock Exchange since 2018.

What is so special about Anaplan?

Thoma Bravo is one of the largest private investment companies in the United States, its portfolio was estimated at over $103 billion as of December 31, 2021. It decided to acquire Anaplan for several reasons.

First and foremost, Thoma Bravo appreciated the comapny`s flexibility and simplicity. It possesses convenient and simple management of directories, periods, and versions for operational configuration of reports, analysis.

Secondly, Anaplan offers powerful tools for multi-level analysis, particularly, planning and forecasting at the level of measurements and indicators, not limited to the chart of accounts. It also provides guaranteed accuracy of forecasts for making operational and strategic decisions.

Thirdly, Thoma Bravo chose Anaplan for its unified planning system, simple management and configuration of models without programming and complex scripts. There is a single repository of business logic, calculations, settings, and other model parameters accessible in a single click.

Finally, this is a flexible, economical and, safe SaaS model. Anaplan is a cloud-based solution, so you don't need to buy or update hardware or software. The Anaplan platform complies with security standards at all levels of data protection - from data access to data transmission channel protection.

Intch Rescues Russian Startups by Moving Them Abroad

The developers of the Intch networking application have created a service to help Russian companies with relocation. It accepts requests from startups wishing to move abroad and addresses them to entrepreneurs from the USA, Europe, Asia.

To use the service and get support, you need to register in the Intch app, make a request, and share it on social media.

Background

The original idea was to bring all business interaction into a single application, involving other communication tools there as well. For example, by linking your mail, you can receive new messages, confirm calendar appointments, assign tags to contacts, write short notes, set reminders and, most importantly, quickly search for the information you need.

Based on the concept, Intch`s target audience includes entrepreneurs, investors, and managers. After the first tests in the near circle, the founders observed a positive response and retention. But onboarding new users turned out to be challenging. Therefore, they started to create additional value that will drive growth and become a sort of an anchor for existing users. That's how touchpoints emerged.

Seeing the demand in business networking, the Intch founders decided to open up new business opportunities, tackle existing problems, and bring like-minded people together for an idea exchange. They started to test the idea during the pandemic period and identified a shift in customer habits. Networking was one of the “victims” of COVID-19 since offline events were canceled everywhere. However, the need for communication and business development remained.

Thus, the founders came up with an idea of touchpoints. These are interactive forms that allow users to indicate their interest/request/problem. The touchpoint is not only published in feeds inside the application but can also be shared on other social nets. If a touchpoint has sparked direct interest, you can observe it through a form of embedded communication.

How does it work?

Every day Intсh AI selects 5 requests from people who need your expertise and want to collaborate with your project. The app highlights the importance of the request to help you pick those ones you need the most. You can help other users to get in touch with the partners from your networking list. By helping others, you increase your social capital and use it for accomplishing your business goals.

Current mission

In the light of the economic isolation Russian startups have faced, they need international opportunities stronger than ever. Therefore, Intch helps them reach foreign stakeholders to keep their business afloat. The users can find international partners and external support to relocate their project to another place. On top of that, the service enables them to select the particular country they need by passing a test. The app is already available on Google Play and App Store.