Middle-market private equity firm BV Investment Partners has invested in GlideFast Consulting and Pharicode, two ServiceNow Elite partners. BV did not disclose whether it gained majority control of the two IT consulting firms.
The investments surfaced that same day that Infosys acquired GuideVision, one of Europe’s largest ServiceNow Elite partners. M&A activity in the ServiceNow partner ecosystem has been strong, thanks to the fast-growth market coupled with a skills shortage for the IT service management (ITSM) platform.
GlideFast Consulting and Pharicode are sister companies. Both were founded by Lloyd Godson, Michael Lombardo and Stephen Light.
GlideFast Consulting and Pharicode: Areas of Expertise
GlideFast Consulting recently was ranked number 341 on the Inc. 5000 -- a list of the fastest-growing privately held companies in the United States. The company's expertise spans ServiceNow implementations, integrations, managed support services, application development, and training.
Pharicode became a ServiceNow Elite partner in 2020. The company provides technology services, managed services, and staff augmentation to public sector organizations. Pharicode became a ServiceNow Elite partner in 2020.
A Board of Directors will be formed to advise both companies and Chris Michalak will join the board. Michalak is the former CEO and a director of Alight Solution, a privately held IT and services company that serves 50 percent of the Fortune 500. Alight also has M&A experience.
This is BV’s first investment in companies within the ServiceNow ecosystem. Still, BV has extensive experience in the enterprise application services market. Indeed, BV acquired majority control of Apps Associates in 2017. Apps Associates is a global IT services company that specializes in cloud database migrations and managed services wrapped around Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle, Salesforce and NetSuite deployments.
ServiceNow Partner Investments: Executive Perspectives
Explaining the investments, Matt Kinsey, senior managing director of BV Investment Partners, said:
“GlideFast Consulting and Pharicode have exceptional reputations and teams that are well positioned to capitalize on the growing, global demand for ServiceNow’s solutions. We’re excited to partner with the founders of both companies to help accelerate growth.”
Added Michael Lombardo, CEO of GlideFast and chief talent officer at Pharicode:
“We have an exciting vision for the future of both GlideFast and Pharicode, and we look forward to leveraging BV to help us scale faster and solidify ourselves as the top partners in the industry. Our commitment has always been, and always will be, to the success of our customers and our team."
Noted Stephen Light, CEO of Pharicode and chief public sector officer at GlideFast Consulting.
“We pride ourselves in providing top-tier services to our customers and now we can better execute our plans to position Pharicode as a top ranking ServiceNow partner in the public sector space."
Concluded Lloyd Godson, president of GlideFast Consulting and Pharicode:
“With the support of BV, both companies can continue to provide exceptional client services and innovative ServiceNow solutions to enterprise and public sector organizations in North America and beyond."
Transact Capital Partners LLC served as the exclusive financial advisor to GlideFast and Pharicode in connection with the transactions. Citizens Bank served as the financial advisor to BV with the transactions.
