Rackspace has acquired RelationEdge, a Salesforce Platinum Consulting Partner and digital agency, the two firms confirmed today. Financial terms were not disclosed.
According to Rackspace:
- RelationEdge, launched in 2013, was owned by its founders, its regional market leaders, and Tide Rock Ventures.
- The Salesforce consulting firm has offices in a dozen cities across the U.S.
- The firm, backed by 125 employees, is growing and profitable.
- The business will continue to operated under the RelationEdge brand, with considerable independence from Rackspace.
RelationEdge's revenues are undisclosed. Also, we don't know the company's revenue mix across one-time professional services and cloud migration services vs. recurring managed services.
Rackspace is owned by Apollo Global Management and reportedly ramping up for a potential IPO. The cloud-centric MSP went private in 2016, cut some staff, and apparently began to regain momentum in mid-2017.
Key Rackspace Business Moves
Indeed, Rackspace has made multiple acquisitions -- including Datapipe and TriCore Solutions -- while introducing MSP services for Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform. The company has also layered in managed security services and container services, while pushing application-centric services for Oracle, SAP and now Salesforce.
Describing the RelationEdge deal, Rackspace EVP Gerard Brossard said:
“We have acquired RelationEdge in response to the growing demand we’re hearing from customers. Enterprise and midmarket companies are increasingly deploying SaaS applications to enhance business processes across many departments, from sales and marketing to customer service, operations, HR, and finance. These applications are powerful, but also complex to implement and costly to continually keep up-to-date. RelationEdge further extends Rackspace’s unrivaled portfolio and expertise to help companies navigate and operate in the world of ever-changing IT.”
Added Matt Stoyka, RelationEdge founder and CEO:
“We are very proud of what we’ve built. We’re also excited about what we still can achieve in this fast-growing market by joining forces with Rackspace. The two companies are a great fit culturally as both differentiate themselves through exceptional customer service. RelationEdge’s Process First, Technology Second® approach perfectly complements Rackspace’s approach to provide unbiased expertise across all leading technologies and to deliver the best-fit solution for each customer’s unique needs.”
Salesforce Partner M&A Activity
Meanwhile, M&A activity involving Salesforce partners has been very strong. Among the mergers and acquisitions we've tracked:
- Spaulding Ridge acquires Baun Consulting, a cloud CRM partner.
- Capgemini acquires Lyons Consulting Group, a Salesforce Commerce Cloud partner.
- BV Investment Partners acquires control of Apps Associates, an IT services company with Salesforce expertise.
- Simplus raises $9.3 million in Series B funding & acquires Salesforce partner CRM Manager.
- Silverline, a Salesforce platinum cloud consulting partner, attracts Pamlico Capital private equity investment for financial services, healthcare push.
- Salesforce partner and PSA cloud software provider Kimble Applications attracts funding to drive more growth.
- Salesforce cloud backup specialist OwnBackup raises $15.5 million.
