Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, Amazon (FAMGA) all have a shared mantra: Data is the most valuable “raw material” of the world to explore and exploit. With FAMGA being less risk-adverse than the shareholder-driven companies of the industrial era, their venture activities sometimes surprise legacy industries and are interesting to take a closer look at.
Since Microsoft’s first transaction in 1987, FAMGA has acquired close to 900 companies combined. Almost 3 out of 4 acquisitions originate in the US and 5 pct. are from the UK or Canada. The other most popular countries based on FAMGA acquisitions are: Israel, Sweden, France, Germany, Finland, India, Ireland, Switzerland and Denmark.
FAMGA and other large tech companies do not stop acquiring businesses during financial crisis – quite the opposite. They might even use the situation to get a more favorable price when other shareholders and investors might be in need of cash influx.
Looking at FAMGA’s ventures, it becomes even more evident that these companies are making many bets, likely both out of a strategic motivation as well as a pure financial motivation. FAMGA and all their investment vessels have taken a share in close to 2.300 ventures since 1995.
There have been 140 venture investments/participations in unicorns by FAMGA (startups with a valuation above $1bn), some resulting in acquisitions. Interestingly, quite often, more than one FAMGA is involved in the same venture. VC insiders claim that companies making minority investments in other companies makes no sense, and these types of investments are equal to future call options or outsourced R&D.
Among FAMGA’s unicorn bets are companies like Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, SpaceX, Waymo, Slack, WhatsApp, Lending Club, 23andME, SolarCity, Glassdoor, Waze and Turo. Some have already been converted to acquisitions. But it is fair to say that FAMGA is making a lot of bets and buying a lot of tickets—and many of them will be a large part of our lives, while producing valuable data for the companies.
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