Reliam LLC, an MSP focused on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure, has acquired G2 Tech Group, an AWS cloud partner that offers managed DevOps and SaaS automation services. Financial terms were not disclosed.
Reliam is owned by Great Hill Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. The deal comes close on the heels of another merger -- involving Reliam and Los Angeles-based Stratalux, another Amazon-centric MSP.
According to Reliam, the three companies now form a single business with “considerable breadth and depth across AWS technical and strategic proficiencies - as well as a significantly expanded geographical footprint.” Indeed, the combined organization has 80 AWS certifications among its cloud operations professionals and solutions architects.
G2 Tech Group is an MSP that links managed DevOps services to cloud computing. The company’s AWS-recognized expertise in the DevOps, Healthcare, and Life Sciences arenas to the table made it especially attractive, while its domain expertise complements that of Reliam and Stratalux, which have focused mainly in the entertainment, mobile gaming, digital media, marketing, ecommerce, and SaaS verticals.
G2 Tech Group also leverages Continuum’s platforms to automate and scale its business. G2 CEO H. Glenn Grant is a veteran of the MSP sector. He previously held key roles at Thrive Networks, a well-known MSP that's also in acquisition mode.
More Deals Ahead?
Reliam will examine further acquisitions that could provide the opportunity for strategic, geographic, technical, and cultural benefits for the business -- but the company will also remain selective in its deals. Reliam, Stratalux, and G2 Tech Group will continue operating under their current names in the near term. A new brand identity is expected to be unveiled later in 2018.
Describing the opportunities ahead, Great Hill Partners Principal Drew Loucks said:
“Reliam, Stratalux, and G2 Tech Group are a natural combination with a proven, successful pedigree that enables the organization to hit the ground running as a unified public cloud services provider with a national presences demand for managed cloud services continues its rapid growth, we are very confident that this well-appointed company will now be able to help many more businesses optimize their public cloud performance while lowering associated costs.”
Buyers Seek MSPs with DevOps Expertise
On the M&A front, some buyers are scouring the market for MSPs that specifically have DevOps expertise. Those MSPs typically are extremely difficult to find. But they do pop up on the M&A front from time to time. Examples include:
- Deloitte in 2017 acquired Strut Digital, an AWS MSP with DevOps cloud experience.
- HOSTING in 2017 acquired Stelligent Systems, a provider of DevOps automation and continuous delivery solutions for AWS.
Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.
