Thrive, backed by private equity firm Court Square Capital Partners, has acquired Preemo, a technology services firm that offers cybersecurity, cloud and digital transformation solutions to end-customers in southern Florida. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
This is technology M&A deal number 154 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2022. See more than 1,000 technology M&A deals for 2022, 2021 and 2020 listed here.
Preemo, based in Miami, serves more than 200 businesses across multiple industries, and also has considerable expertise in the legal and private equity sectors.
Thrive has acquired more than a dozen MSPs, IT service providers and consulting firms since 2016. Other somewhat recent deals include buying InCare Technologies, Howard Tech Advisors, Apex IT Group, and ONI, among others.
Thrive Acquires Preemo: Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the deal, Thrive CEO Rob Stephenson said:
“Preemo has a tremendous reputation built upon a customer-centric focus and premier IT support. Thrive has a large number of customers in the Northeast United States moving or expanding to South Florida that will benefit from Preemo’s team of exceptional technologists. Their clients will benefit from Thrive’s 24x7x365 SOC, cybersecurity practice, and digital transformation products and services.”
Added Ivan Mladenovic, CEO of Preemo:
“Over the past 13 years, Preemo has grown into a leader in the Southeast Florida market, delivering comprehensive managed IT services, public and private cloud, and cybersecurity solutions. Now, under Thrive’s umbrella, we will expand both our service offering and our geographic footprint, to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience for our clients in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach. We’re thrilled about this new partnership and look forward to our strategic growth this year and beyond.”
Thrive’s Business Evolution and Private Equity Ownership
Private equity firm Court Square Capital Partners acquired Thrive in January 2021. Among the key areas of focus: Expanding the MSP into fast-growth areas such as ServiceNow, automation, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity, Thrive said at the time.
Thrive’s business journey proves that MSPs, under the right ownership and executive leadership, can scale from local IT support into national prominence. For Thrive, the business journey involved some mixed-performance years under Staples’ former ownership. The turning acceleration point arrived around 2015, when Rob Stephenson began consulting for Thrive Networks under MetTel’s direction.
A Big Bang moment arrived in 2016, when M/C Partners acquired Thrive Networks and Corporate IT Solutions, and Stephenson was tapped to run the merged the businesses. Thrive then acquired multiple MSPs, before Court Square acquired the company in January 2021 to fuel the next round of national growth.
