Private equity firms, services firms and managed service providers (MSPs) looking to grow their businesses and drive revenue through mergers and acquisitions (M&A) will have a plethora of educational opportunities and professional guidance in the form of events in 2025.
MSP M&A-themed conferences are becoming a hot topic in the channel as the M&A mania continues. A growing number of businesses, from enterprises to SMBs, are seeking to outsource IT expertise, cybersecurity protections, cloud help, and other services on demand.
But while there are a lot of potential buyers of MSPs, there aren't that many MSPs suitable in size and quality for purchase.
The buyers of MSPs are varied and growing, including private equity firms and other MSPs that want to add services or serve more customers. The expanding market for MSPs to acquire likely triggered the first MSP M&A events to get underway and they began multiplying organically from there.
MSPs Continue to be an M and A Target
In the last several years, the demand for quality MSPs to acquire is simply higher than the supply of MSPs that are the right size and fit for such deals.
Interestingly, IT vendors N-able, ConnectWise, and Kaseya all publicized and held their own M&A conferences on the day before their broader user conferences opened earlier this year. At all three events, MSP M&A talks were encouraged and supported, making the direct approach of these events very notable.
Rob Enderle, principal analyst with Enderle Group, told ChannelE2E that these organized and growing MSP M&A events make sense for the industry.
“I am anticipating an MSP M&A wave over the next several years as the market adjusts to [coming] U.S. tariffs and the massive growth of AI,” which will create a lot of market turmoil and company failures, said Enderle. “Those companies that can navigate the coming business storms should be able to acquire companies far more cheaply, and AI companies will be in extremely high demand. There is a potential for a massive buying spree on struggling companies as a result.”
For MSPs, mergers and acquisitions make sense because while they want to grow their customer bases, there is also strength in size that will help them survive the coming tariffs and AI storms, he added.
Enderle said that these MSP M&A conferences will also likely bring more attention to future deals. “There may be an aspect of not watching for this in the past, but given the anticipated market consolidation trend, there is a solid reason to focus on expansion through M&As in the future.”
Tony Beller, the channel chief and SVP of global partner sales for autonomous endpoint management vendor Tanium, told ChannelE2E that while his company has not yet participated in any MSP M&A events, he in constantly seeing a lot of MSP M&A activity around the world.
This trend makes sense, said Beller, as smaller MSPs with specialized products receive requests from customers that they want to get more services from fewer vendors, which also helps fuel M&A transactions. “Customers are looking for MSPs to offer full-service offerings versus just one specialized little thing.”
Here are Some MSP M and A Events Scheduled Through 2025
IT Nation Grow, December 11-12, 2024, ConnectWise headquarters, Tampa, Florida. Sponsored by ConnectWise, this event is described as a hands-on intensive two-day boot camp with sessions covering private equity, security, operations, succession planning and organic vs. acquisitive growth.
MSP Expo 2025, February 11-13, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, MSP EXPO is where the MSP and channel community will meet to discuss opportunities and business growth, including sessions on increasing company valuation through M&A.
Channel Partners Conference & Expo, Co-located with MSP Summit, March 24-27, 2025, at The Venetian in Las Vegas, this event gathers the technology services community, including MSPs. It features discussions on industry-shaping topics, including M&A activities.
MSP Summit 2025,September 15-17, 2025, at Loews Royal Pacific in Orlando, Florida, this summit is a premier event for MSPs. It offers panels, networking opportunities, and insights from industry leaders, including discussions on M&A strategies.
MSP Global 2025, October 21-23, 2025, at PortAventura World Theme Park near Barcelona, Spain, MSP GLOBAL connects leaders in the MSP space. The event features sessions on business growth, including M&A topics relevant to MSPs.
Another event to track in 2025 is the Channel Program MSP M&A GrowthShow, which has not yet been scheduled.
The first Channel Program MSP M&A GrowthShow was held this past October in Elizabeth, New Jersey, and brought together MSP business owners and C-level executives to discuss M&A processes with merger and acquisition experts. Representatives attended the event and scheduled meetings from acquisition-focused MSPs, including Jason Erickson, the chief strategy officer of Integris; Chris Traxler, SVP of sales for The 20; Madhur Duggar, senior advisor for Excendio Advisors; Sydney Hockett, VP of M&A for Evergreen; David Wolf, vice president of Just Solutions, Inc.; and Christian Fulmino, SVP of corporate development for Dataprise.
