Founded in 2000, Bytemobile had raised more than $56m from Innovacom, Eastven (which had been the corporate venturing unit of Ericsson) and venture capital firms Benchmark, Trident Capital and CrossBridge Venture Partners.

Vodafone bought a 21% stake in Invitation Digital in May last year and also has the first option to increase its direct shareholding in the future.

Nasdaq-listed Trident filed for bankruptcy protection last month and the deal is subject to approval by the bankruptcy court.

Sterling is backed by private equity firm Calera Capial and is buying Checkwell, which has had corporate venturing investment.

News provider Globes said Traffix raised $12m in venture capital and was sold for $140m in cash.

Germany-based accommodation website 9flats, backed by the corporate venturing unit of Deutsche Telekom, snaps up Canadian rival iStopOver to expand its reach in North America.

Allot is paying $16m in cash, and up to $5m based on this year's performance. Oversi will add $2m in revenues to Allot.

Difficulties in a partnership vacuum.