Effectual, a cloud-focused MSP, has acquired Five Talent, an Amazon Web Services (AWS) partner focused on DevOps and software modernization projects.
This is M&A deal number 238 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2020. See the complete M&A deal list here. Moreover, this is Effectual's second AWS partner acquisition of 2020 -- the other deal involved buying JHC Technology.
Also, this is the fifth M&A deal involving an AWS-focused MSP so far in 2020, according to ChannelE2E’s database of deals.
Effectual Acquires Five Talent: Deal Background
Five Talent of Bend, Oregon, specializes in DevOps automation, custom application development, SaaS enablement, and refactoring workloads. The acquired company's AWS competencies include DevOps, SaaS, and Mobile. Five Talent recently surpassed 50 AWS certifications.
New owner Effectual is based in Hoboken, New Jersey. The cloud MSP is backed by private equity investors Catalyst Investors and Lumerity Capital. The overall Effectual war chest at the time of the investments apparently was $50 million.
Effectual, with Five Talent tucked in, now has a staff that carries more than 150 AWS certifications. Moreover, Effectual claims to be the only AWS Premier Consulting Partner to hold both the AWS Government Competency and the VMware Master Services Competency in VMware Cloud on AWS.
Also of note: FOCUS Investment Banking acted as exclusive financial advisor to Five Talent in connection with Effectual’s acquisition.
Effectual Acquires Five Talent: Executive Perspectives
In a prepared statement about the deal, Effectual CEO Robb Allen said:
"Effectual and Five Talent have been working as partners on a number of engagements with our mutual customers. Simply put, we believe we can accomplish more together as one company, delivering a complete suite of services for modernizing, securing and ensuring the continuous compliance of mission critical applications and workloads for our customers. We will leverage our combined experience, resources, skill sets and geographic reach, to continue to execute on our vision to be the leader in IT modernization services for commercial enterprises and the public sector."
Added Preston Callicott, CEO of Five Talent:
"Working together over the past year, it is clear that the cultural similarities of our organizations and our complementary services provide customers with a complete solution for delivering successful business outcomes. We are committed to building trusted, long-term relationships with our customers in every engagement. Similarly, Effectual approaches each engagement with a thorough understanding of each customer's goals and success criteria. The alignment in our approach, and shared passion to learn and innovate alongside our customers has inspired us to set new goals and grow our businesses as one."
Five Talent CTO Ryan Comingdeer concluded:
"Technical excellence and continuous learning are core values for both Effectual and Five Talent. Together, we can pursue greater levels of expertise and continue to push our team to advance their skills. The certifications, competencies, and programs we have achieved through our partnership with AWS demonstrate this commitment and provide customers with the confidence that we are cloud experts who can deliver high performing, impactful solutions."
