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 acquired Carbyn, 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, and North 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.

See Carbyn’s technology in action below:

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US-based desktop virtualization software maker DeskStream has acquired Northern Irish cloud start-up WorldDesk, the companies are set to announce today at CES in Las Vegas. Terms of the acquisition, which is expected to close this quarter, were not disclosed.

Interestingly, the acquisition will see DeskStream adopt the WorldDesk name and branding.

Read more at TechCrunch Europe.

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As companies move their data out from behind firewalls into the cloud and employees use self-provisioned mobile devices, infosecurity must change. That’s why cybercrime prevention provider ThreatMetrix will announce tomorrow its acquisition of TrustDefender, which detects malware-based attacks. ThreatMetrix can now offer an integrated fraud protection solution that verifies the identity and integrity of any device trying to access secure data. If an endpoint has been compromised through malware or identity theft: access denied.

Reed Taussig, ThreatMetrix’s CEO tells me the acquisition was made with a combination of cash and stock. It was bankrolled by ThreatMetrix’s 300% year on year revenue growth and the $12 million funding round it took in October 2010.

TrustDefender co-founder and CEO Andreas Baumhof will become the new ThreatMetrix CTO. The majority of the Australian TrustDefender’s team was picked up, but won’t be relocating to ThreatMetrix’s San Jose headquarters. TrustDefender took $16 million in funding from Nexbix Ltd in March 2010.

ThreatMetrix’s device identifications system looks at over 250 aspects of an endpoint device to determine its integrity. — where is it, hidden proxies, if text is being rendered in foreign language, or if that email address has been used to make a request from multiple continents. TrustDefender detects malware and other threats including trojans, Poison Ivy, and man-in-the-browser-attacks. It services financial institutions, SaaS providers, ecommerce companies, and government.

Before now, companies had to seek out separate vendors for device identification and malware detection. Taussig tells me “The identification of malware on a device should be a feature of device identification. We were fortunate to have found a malware ID company that has leading edge technology with referenceable, high-end customers that recognize this is a match made in heaven. The acquisition provides huge advantages, as clients can be supported by a single product.”

Additionally, ThreatMetrix has just signed a partnership with major credit bureau TransUnion. This will help it verify the authenticity of user biographical and financial data to protect logins and payments.

Instead of only accessing firewalled data through dedicated, pre-screened devices, employees now accessing the cloud with their own laptops, tablets, and phones. Let’s be honest. Who knows what those devices are being used for in the off-hours? It’s therefore more important than ever for IT departments to have a strong device ID security system. Otherwise their company’s source code, intellectual property, design docs, customer names or credit card numbers could be at risk.

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Sales effectiveness cloud SaaS company Callidus Software Inc today announced its acquisition of LeadFormix, a B2B cloud-based lead intelligence SaaS. LeadFormix lets B2B vendors turn anonymous visits to their websites into qualified leads by identifying potential customers and reporting their intent. This solution will join the Callidus multi-tenant SaaS sales performance and effectiveness solutions that help companies hire better sales people, close deals, and incentivize sales performance.

The acquisition will bring LeadFormix’s 200 SaaS customers to Callidus, which already serves AETNA, Nokia, Citrix, and JPMorgan Chase. Callidus will now have over 1100 customers, and will build upon its existing 2.5 million user base.

LeadFormix’s CEO Srihari Kumar says ”Sales and Marketing collaboration is a hot market. LeadFormix’ focus on sales and marketing alignment together with CallidusCloud’s Sales Collaboration portal, Commissions, and Coaching solutions presents a huge opportunity.” With their products combined, Callidus will have serious might in the sales effectiveness space. LeadFormix data on what a potential customer might want to buy will assist CallidusCloud-powered sales people make the right value propositions when negotiating with potential customers.

Just over a year ago, Callidus acquired sales coaching and talent development platform ForceLogix for $3.75 million. The publicly traded Callidus had a strong Q4 2011, bouncing back up to the $6.40 range after falling as low $4.05 in September. Following the LeadFormix acquisition news, the Callidus Software Inc [CALD] stock price rose by 0.94% to reach $6.48 at close.

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Two acquisitions today that were for the most part executed so Silicon Valley companies could buy their way into the UK (and Ireland) market.

Freshly funded location-based mobile gaming company Red Robot Labs has acquired UK-based indie gaming company Supermono Studios.

Cloud solutions company Appirio, which just raised funding from Salesforce.com and other strategic backers, has acquired Saaspoint, a provider of cloud consulting services.

Read more at TechCrunch Europe.

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Lattice Semiconductor this morning announced that it is to acquire SiliconBlue Technologies, which develops mobile device solutions for the consumer handheld market.

Lattice Semi will pay approximately $62 million in cash for SiliconBlue and aims to close the deal before the end of the year.

Under the terms of the agreement, SiliconBlue CEO Kapil Shankar will join Lattice Semi as Corporate VP of the Mobility Business Unit and will be responsible for its mobility product lines.

Using a single chip ‘Field Programmable Gate Array’ (FPGA) fabric, SiliconBlue’s devices basically enable mobile designers to quickly add features to their mobile platform in areas such as connectivity, memory, storage, sensor management, video and imaging.

The company says its mobile FPGA devices have already shipped “in the millions of units” to major consumer OEMs who produce everything from digital camera to tablets, smartphones, ereader devices, portable media players, netbooks and notebooks.

SiliconBlue says it holds 40+ patents for its technology.

Founded in 2006, SiliconBlue raised over $60 million in funding from private equity firm Atlantic Bridge, BlueRun Ventures, Crosslink Capital, NEA and Apex Venture Partners. Just recently, the company secured $18 million in Series D financing.

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GlobalSCAPE, which specializes in information exchange solutions for enterprise customers, this morning announced that it has acquired TappIn, maker of an eponymous cloud-based file access and sharing solution.

TappIn, formerly known as HomePipe Networks, was picked up for $9 million in cash, though shareholders stand to receive another $8 million if certain performance-based milestones are met over the next three years.

TappIn basically lets you access any files (documents, images, videos and whatnot) stored on your computers, external hard drives or other storage devices from any Web browser or modern smartphone – the service supports iOS, Android and Windows Phone 7. Unlike services such as Box and Dropbox, TappIn lets you access digital content without to need to upload or sync said files.

There are obvious security risks involved with that approach, but TappIn claims all content gets compressed and encrypted before it is accessed from another device than the one it is stored on.

Founded in 2009, TappIn will a wholly-owned subsidiary of GlobalSCAPE, and all the company’s employees – including executives Chris Hopen, Parvez Anandam, Doug Wheeler, and Andrew Tull – will remain in its hometown of Seattle.

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Hewlett-Packard has acquired a German company called HIFLEX, based in Aachen, which develops software that helps companies in the print and media industries automate their business and technical processes.

HIFLEX products include HIFLEX MIS (Management Information System), HIFLEX Print Support and an open web-to-print system dubbed HIFLEX Webshop.

Read more at TechCrunch Europe.

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Bsecure, a provider of online family protection software, has been acquired by Internet and mobile security giant AVG Technologies.

Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Bsecure says it has provided cloud-based technology and parent controls software in the Internet filtering industry since 2001. The company has long been a partner of AVG partner in offering parental control products.

Related: AVG Acquires Mobile Security Startup DroidSecurity

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Best Buy this morning announced its acquisition of mindSHIFT Technologies, which provides managed IT, cloud, data center and other professional services to small and mid-sized businesses all across the United States, for $167 million. mindSHIFT is said to serve more than 5,400 clients and 25,000 managed desktops nationwide.

According to a press statement, mindSHIFT will continue to operate under its current name and management team. All 500 employees – who work from mindSHIFT’s offices in Boston, Long Island (NY), Minneapolis, Morrisville (NC), New York City, Philadelphia and Washington (DC) – will be making the transfer to Best Buy.

Here’s how the retail giant pitches its acquisition of mindSHIFT:

“The combination of mindSHIFT ‘s capabilities and Best Buy’s points of distribution through its retail, Geek Squad services and Best Buy For Business operations is expected to create a competitive advantage that would provide an opportunity for the two companies to capture greater share within the estimated $40 billion small and mid-sized business MSP market.”

The acquisition is reminiscent of Best Buy’s purchase of Geek Squad (2002).

The transaction is expected to close by year’s end, subject to customary closing conditions.

The news comes on the same day as Best Buy’s unceremonious exit from the UK.

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