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

Josh Constine

Josh Constine is a technology journalist who specializes in deep analysis of social products. He is currently a writer for TechCrunch. Previously, Constine was the Lead Writer of Inside Facebook, where he covered Facebook product changes, privacy, the Ads API, Page management, ecommerce, virtual currency, and music technology. Prior to writing for Inside Facebook, Constine graduated from Stanford University... → Learn More

Monday, January 30th, 2012
Synacor Carbyn IPO

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:


Company: Synacor
Website: synacor.com
Launch Date: 2001
Funding: $17M

Synacor’s online content, portal and comprehensive front-end technology solutions enable MSOs, ISPs and telecommunications companies to bundle, promote and deliver narrowband and broadband premium content and services as part of existing Internet access products. Its solutions offer the combined strength of a flexible portal framework, a robust provisioning platform, a unified back-end and a network of in-demand standard and premium content – enabling service providers to maintain critical contact with consumers as they shift from screen-to-screen while seeking increasingly...

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Company: Carbyn
Website: carbyn.com
Launch Date: August 1, 2011

Carbyn is an online app operating system, bringing the same type of full App experience we all love on iOS but doing it in the browser meaning accessible by everyone on all devices; phones, tablets, and desktops new and old. Now everyone can get the apps they love! We believe human computer interaction is increasingly App-focused, meaning people launch apps first and then do what they want instead of going through a file system. It’s what those with an iPhone/iPad...

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