IBM announced Wednesday that it has reached an agreement to acquire the analytics software company Tealeaf Technology.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in second quarter of this year, weren't disclosed.

The acquisition is part IBM's Smarter Commerce initiative, which is designed to help businesses automate and infuse more analytics and intelligence into their procurement, marketing, sales and customer service.

The company has invested $2.5 billion since 2010 in the initiative.

San Francisco-based Tealeaf provides management software that records and analyzes a customer's website and mobile interactions with customers. The company's customers include the likes of Dell, Wells Fargo and Expedia.

IBM employs thousands in the Triangle and is one of the region's largest technology employers.

Technology company Inmar announced Thursday that it will invest $24.5 million in its Winston-Salem corporate headquarters and create 212 jobs over the next five years.

Inmar offers consulting and software services for clients in retail, pharmaceutical, manufacturing and other industries. The company already employs more than 640 people in Winston-Salem and in Forsyth and Mecklenburg counties.

The company will receive incentives worth more than $4.1 million if it meets investment and hiring goals.

The new jobs will pay an average annual wage of $72,83, plus benefits. The Forsyth County average is $41,912.

A Silicon Valley technology company that makes software for analyzing customer buying patterns has picked Durham as its second U.S. office.

SugarCRM, based in Cupertino, opened the office on Emperor Boulevard about five weeks ago. It employs 12 in sales and engineering here, but it expects to double the staff in the coming months.

The company said in a statement it wanted to be closer to clients and resellers in the Eastern half of the United States, where it works with more than 60 "channel partners" to sell and support its products.

SugarCRM, founded in 2004, employs more than 200 people, mostly in the San Francisco Bay area. Outside its two U.S. offices, the company has foreign offices in Munich, Paris, Cambridge, Sydney and Minsk.

The company's customers include Avis, Coca-Cola and General Motors. Its product, known as Customer Relationship Management, creates databases of customers, documenting their orders and preferences by location and other demographic categories.

A Triangle technology company is moving to new office space nearly three times the size of its previous headquarters as its business continues to expand.

Geomagic, which makes software that helps create 3-D models, expects to move into 32,200 square feet on Davis Drive in Morrisville by Monday. Some renovation work will continue through October as the company adds amenities such as employee relaxation areas.

There also will be more space to showcase the company's 3-D imaging and printing technology, as well as examples of how customers are using the products.

"It will help create a new level of energy and activity," said CEO Ping Fu.

SciQuest has won a key contract with the state of Colorado, which could open the doors for similar deals with other states.

The deal represents a big breakthrough for Cary-based SciQuest, which sells e-procurement technology and services to universities, pharmaceutical companies and other customers. It has had a contract with Georgia, but officials have been pushing hard to add more business with other state and local governments.

Final terms of the Colorado contract are still being negotiated, but it could be worth nearly $5 million over five years. SciQuest CEO Stephen Wiehe declined to comment until all of the agreements with Colorado are signed.

The contract is a "highly visible win in the state and local market, which we believe may act as a catalyst for additional government opportunities for SciQuest," JMP Securities analyst Patrick Walravens wrote in a report to investors.

Red Hat, the Raleigh software company with a booming business, gave its top executives modest annual raises this week.

CEO Jim Whitehurst's base salary rose to $775,000, for example, a 3 percent increase, Red Hat reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing today. Chief financial officer Charlie Peters and others got similar raises.

The base salaries are just a small part of the executives' total compensation. Whitehurst also could receive a bonus of up to $775,000 if Red Hat meets various financial and other goals, plus other pay.

Last year, Whitehurst made $8.97 million, including $7.16 million in stock awards, Red Hat disclosed in a previous SEC filing. That made him one of the Triangle's highest paid CEOs.

SciQuest announced that its No. 2 executive, chief operating officer James Duke, right, plans to resign for personal reasons.

"I would like to thank Jamie for his leadership and dedication that have helped SciQuest reach the strong position we enjoy in the market today," CEO Stephen Wiehe said in a prepared statement. "We wish him the best of luck as he focuses on his personal goals after a transition period at SciQuest."

As it continues steady expansion of its business, SciQuest is slowly adding more staff.

The Cary company is hiring in the Triangle and in Houston, the base for a company it bought in December. It now employs about 240 people and expects to hire more in coming months.

"That means we're seeing more business to support our need for additional people," said CEO Stephen Wiehe.

While it's taking a bit longer to find "great talent" than it did during the economic downturn in 2009 and 2010, the fledgling recovery isn't forcing employers to pay more for top recruits yet, Wiehe said.

Late Thursday, the company reported that first-quarter revenue rose to $12.5 million, up 24 percent from a year earlier. Its profit of 6 cents per share exceeded analysts' expectations.

Cary technology business SciQuest reported another quarter of steady sales gains.

The company helps drug makers, universities, government agencies and others buy goods more cheaply online.

During the first quarter, revenue rose to $12.5 million, up 24 percent from a year earlier. Some of that gain was tied to SciQuest's acquisition of a Texas company, which also helped boost its customer count to 313, nearly double the total of a year ago.

But net income fell to 2 cents a share from 9 cents a share, partly because of compensation and acquisition-related costs.

"We continue to see strong activity levels in all of our target markets," CEO Stephen Wiehe said in a prepared statement. "A solid first quarter put us on a firm foundation for what we expect to be a year of healthy growth."

A Durham technology company that helps health insurers cut claims costs has been sold for $82 million in cash.

Bloodhound Technologies was acquired by Verisk Analytics, a publicly traded New Jersey company that supplies actuarial data to insurers and mortgage lenders. Since Verisk went public in 2009, it's been expanding by buying smaller firms with promising products.

Bloodhound's system for spotting fraud in claims-processing data is valuable because the health industry is racing to reduce expenses, said Steve Nelson, a partner with the Wakefield Group, one of the company's early venture-capital investors.

"Health-care IT is certainly a hot space right now in the wake of the federal health reform," Nelson said.