Acronis has acquired Synapsys, a long-time partner and specialty distributor with business units that support resellers, VARs and MSPs in South Africa. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is technology M&A deal 175 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
The deal essentially involves two Synapsys businesses. They are:
- Synapsys Systems, a specialized software distributor and the region’s Authorized Acronis Distributor for on-premises solutions since 2003.
- Synapsys Distribution, which promotes the Acronis Cyber Cloud service provider platform to MSPs.
Synapsys Managing Director Peter French shifts to GM for Acronis in the Middle East/Africa market. After a planned transition period, Synapsys will be integrated into Acronis and will be responsible for all Africa sales of Acronis.
Acronis Cyber Protection Strategy: R&D, Funding and Acquisitions
This is Acronis’ fourth acquisition in the past 18 months. The other three deals involved buying
- November 2020: CyberLynx for security audits, penetration testing & proprietary training solutions.
- July 2020: DeviceLock for data loss prevention (DLP) software.
- December 2019: 5nine for Microsoft Hyper-V & Azure cloud management & security.
The acquisitions, coupled with R&D and financial backing from Goldman Sachs, accelerated an Acronis expansion from backup, disaster recovery (BDR) and data protection to cyber protection. Acronis CEO Serguei Beloussov described the software business transformation in this October 2020 ChannelE2E interview.
Acronis Acquires Synapsys: Executive Perspectives
Describing the Synapsys deal, Acronis CEO Serguei Beloussov said:
“Synapsys has been a trusted and valuable partner in our efforts to extend our cyber protection solutions to organizations across the African continent. This acquisition will give their users direct access to our technology and support. At the same time, Africa is becoming a strategic growth opportunity for Acronis and acquiring Synapsys provides us with a permanent presence on the continent. The move is beneficial for Acronis, the African MSP channel, and the organizations and users that need to safeguard their workloads and systems against the modern threat landscape.”
Adds French:
“No business school advice tells you to put all your eggs in one basket. But this is exactly what we did with Acronis, and we have never regretted it. Our laser-focus and partner-centric ethos is backed by our alignment with Acronis’ mission, especially the drive to the cloud and the cyber protect approach to data protection and digital security. This deal feels like a natural extension to this long-standing relationship. Partnerships are about relationships which are about people: we are looking forward to continuing to support MSPs across Africa in keeping the ecosystem cyber protected, now as part of Acronis. And former Synapsys partners can look forward to a closer relationship with Acronis, working through the same core team on the ground whom they have grown to trust over the years.”
Acronis: More Acquisitions Coming?
Did a little deeper into the news announcement, and Acronis says it continues to explore potential acquisitions that will extend its ability to address the Five Vectors of Cyber Protection. Those vectors span safety, accessibility, privacy, authenticity, and security (SAPAS) challenges that face today’s data, applications and systems, Acronis says.
