IT service provider The Purple Guys has acquired We Are IT. The combined company, which is expanding from Kansas City to St. Louis, Missouri, will have about 40 employees and 200 customers. Roughly 40 of those customers come from the We Are IT acquisition.
“Our philosophy has always been that we are a Service Company that happens to support technology,” Jon Schram, founder & CEO, The Purple Guys, tells ChannelE2E. “When we do our job well, thousands of people have a better day, are more productive and go home in a better mood.”
Schram notes the purchase is consistent with the company’s mission. New and old customers can both expect access to a larger team, additional skills, and more support while still remaining 100 percent local, he says. Moreover, that 'local' reach will soon extend into St. Louis, where the company plans to open a physical location sometime in October. The new office will be about a three-hour drive from The Purple Guys' Kansas City headquarters, and will unlock new opportunities for employees, he adds.
The Purple Guys launched in 2001 to concentrate on the SMB market. The company has grown an average of 20 percent each year since its inception, according to the company's LinkIn page. Also, The Purple Guys has frequently been recognized as one of the Kansas City Chamber's Top 10 Small Businesses, while also earning various business and technology honors from the Kansas City Business Journal.
The company claims it was the first service provider in the region to introduce preventative maintenance, remote service solutions, and predictable pricing models, though additional MSP-oriented companies have popped up in the region over the past decade or so.
The overall MSP and IT service provider market continues to generate considerable M&A activity. Recent deals to note include:
