Private equity-backed IT advisory firm Upstack has announced its sixth acquisition of the year, this time buying CloudAdvise, a technology infrastructure advisory firm, for an undisclosed amount.
This is technology M&A deal number 499 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021. See all technology M&A deals for 2021 and 2020 listed here.
CloudAdvise’s Growth Path
Founded in New York City in 2015, CloudAdvise serves mid-market and enterprise organizations around the world. The company was originally established to help SMBs procure data center and cloud infrastructure services.
Over time, the company began to offer vetted solutions, researching various offerings and presenting solutions that were tailored to their customers’ needs. The company grew through referrals, eventually extending its research services to larger organizations, assisting non-technical procurement teams with purchasing infrastructure in more than 15 countries.
Upstack’s M&A Record
The acquisition of CloudAdvise is part of Upstack’s strategy to accelerate the growth of its proprietary platform. In April, the company announced an initial $50 million equity investment from Berkshire Partners, which the company has earmarked toward expanding the platform.
As part of the deal, CloudAdvise Founder and CEO Greg Moss will join Upstack as a Partner and Managing Director and a true equity stakeholder. Moss will serve as an advisor to business customers that are sourcing data center, colocation, cloud, network connectivity and other technology solutions through the Upstack platform, the company said.
This setup–where founders of acquired companies join Upstack as a partner–has been universal throughout all of Upstack’s recent deals. Those deals have included:
- July 2021: LanYap Networks, a strategic telecom and cloud solutions provider for medium and large businesses.
- July 2021: Consulting firm DataCenterAndColocation.com
- June 2021: Global technology infrastructure solutions firm Cloudwirx Inc
- May 2021: Telecommunications consulting firm M2 Enterprise Group
- April 2021: Global technology and telecommunications consulting firm Cloudnexion
Upstack Acquires CloudAdvise: “The Challenge Of Integrating”
Christopher Trapp, CEO, Upstack, commented on the most recent deal:
“We’re thrilled to welcome CloudAdvise to the UPSTACK family. Greg brings a rare combination of entrepreneurial ingenuity, grit and enterprise-level business acumen to the table. I have no doubt that these skills will be integral to helping UPSTACK’s customers achieve their ambitious digital transformation objectives.”
Greg Moss, Founder and CEO, CloudAdvise, said:
“What I found most intriguing about partnering with UPSTACK was the opportunity to have an immediate impact on the success of an industry-changing enterprise. I like the challenge of integrating and partnering with like-minded advisors and business leaders to drive a common goal.”
About Upstack’s Offering
Upstack originally positioned itself as a colocation marketplace, but since then it has pivoted to become a sales agency much like CloudAdvise. The company offers to help customers select and activate a variety of IT services including colocation, network connectivity, SD-WAN, unified communications, cloud, mobile, IoT, and business connectivity solutions.
Upstack’s platform allows business technology buyers and advisors to “design and compare cloud and internet infrastructure solutions. Its technology consists of a set of tools that automate many of the most time-consuming components of designing and sourcing IT solutions, saving its advisors and end-customers significant amounts of time relative to current modes of manual data extraction, input, comparison, and presentation,” the company says.
