According to an official press release shared with U.Today by the team at CB Insights, the whole process of acquisition took only three months from the first "cold email" to the signing of the documents.
CB Insights expands into the blockchain analytics sphere
CB Insights, one of the flagship companies in the business analytics segment—well known for its comprehensive reports covering different areas of the global economy—has confirmed its second acquisition in 2020. In July, it acquired Dow Jones VentureSource, and now an M&A deal with Amsterdam-based BlockData is announced.
CB Insights representatives highlight that the new acquisition will provide clients with unique high-tech instruments. On-chain analytics by Blockdata can be useful for governments, enterprises and financial institutions. Its information can significantly reduce uncertainty and assist in taking the proper business steps.
Within the framework of the M&A deal, CB Insights will open a new office in Amsterdam, one of the most popular blockchain and cryptocurrency hubs worldwide.
Meanwhile, Blockdata will operate as a standalone product with its own team within CB Insights structures.
Crucial M&A for Blockdata and CB Insights
Representatives of both teams benefited from the speed of decision-making as the deal was in progress. All negotiations were fully remote due to the pandemic, but a deal was reached successfully in only 12 weeks.
Anand Sanwal, CEO and co-founder of CB Insights, is sure that this acquisition occurred just in time due to an impressive spike in interest in blockchain technologies in 2020:
We are incredibly happy to have the Blockdata team join us at this turning point for the DLT space. In the last 8 months, we have seen customer activity around the blockchain accelerate dramatically. It’s gone from something that was considered possible or probable to something that is now practical.
Jonathan Knegtel, co-founder of Blockdata, has emphasized that this integration will boost the blockchain analytics segment and advance people's experience in dealing with blockchain analytics:
We believe that distributed ledger technology lays the foundation for a truly digital economy, and we want to help people enter and navigate this complex space. We’ve admired CB Insights for a long time and this acquisition allows us to grow our team here in Amsterdam and continue to build out next gen tools that will help people track the development of this technology.
As covered by U.Today, 2020 has been called the year of acquisitions. For instance, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse claimed that the blockchain segment will see many more "consolidation" efforts than previously.
Dan Burgin
Yuri Molchan
Denys Serhiichuk
