MSP cloud marketplace provider Pax8 has hired IPO (initial public offering) veteran Puneet Pamnani to succeed Michael Lipfield as CFO. Lipfield shifts to corporate VP of financial operations.
Pamnani surfaces at Pax8 one week after the company announced Softbank venture funding that valued the cloud marketplace at $1.7 billion. Key Pax8 investors in the round also included Catalyst Investors, Sageview Capital, Blue Cloud Ventures, and Liberty Global Ventures, the participants said.
At Pax8, Pamnani will be responsible for "managing the company's financial operations and legal function, its M&A (Mergers and Acquisitions) and capital markets activities, and for maturing the company’s financial processes and controls to the levels of a public company," the cloud marketplace provider noted.
Pamnani has been down this road before. He previously was CFO and head of PaaS at Kore Wireless -- which specializes in IoT Software and Solutions. Kore Group Holdings ($KORE) launched an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange in October 2021. Kore's revenue was $64.3 million in Q4 of 2021, up 11.8% from $57.5 million in Q4 of 2020, the company announced in March 2022.
Pax8: MSP Cloud Marketplace Focus, Business Growth, Acquisitions
Roughly 20,000 MSPs leverage Pax8’s cloud marketplace to find, select, deploy and manage various SaaS and IT automation solutions for SMB customers. In some ways, Pax8 has been disrupting traditional IT distributors in the cloud market. In other ways, Pax8 has been redefining how MSPs source and manage customer applications worldwide.
Pax8 previously raised $96 million in funding in January 2021. The company has been growing both organically and through M&A. Key moves include:
- January 2022: Acquiring TVG, a Microsoft cloud services partner and software distributor in northeastern Europe;
- July 2021: acquired Microsoft Azure and 365 cloud partner Resello;
- May 2021: acquired Sea-Level Operations for MSP education services;
- January 2021: acquired Microsoft Azure cloud partner Wirehive; and
- January 2021: announced a UK leadership team for expansion into Europe.
Pax8 Hires CFO: John Street's Perspectives
In a prepared statement about hiring Pamnani, Pax8 CEO John Street said:
“As we continue the incredible growth trajectory, we are thrilled to welcome Puneet to the Pax8 team. We thank Michael for his many contributions to Pax8 and look forward to the great work he will continue to do as CVP of Finance. As we enter the new growth phase, we have confidence in Puneet’s global reach and operational and planning experience to help us elevate the company as needs continue to change and evolve.”
Meanwhile, Lipfield will now oversee strategic projects and M&A post-merger integration in his new role as corporate VP President (CVP) of Financial Operations.
