B2B subscription commerce firm AppDirect, backed by private equity firm CDPQ, has acquired TBI, a technology service aggregator and distributor in North America. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the companies said Mesirow Investment Banking served as the exclusive financial advisor and Vedder Price served as legal advisor to TBI on this transaction.
This is technology M&A deal number 27 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2023. See more than 2,000 technology M&A deals involving MSPs, MSSPs & IT service providers listed here.
AppDirect Acquires TBI
AppDirect, founded in 2009, is based in San Francisco, California. The company has 656 employees listed on LinkedIn. AppDirect’s areas of expertise include cloud service marketplace and management platform, cloud service and application distribution, digital economy, end-to-end cloud commerce platform and subscription commerce.
TBI, founded in 1991, is based in Chicago, Illinois. The company has 437 employees listed on LinkedIn. TBI’s areas of expertise include telecommunications, inside sales, cloud, network solutions, WAN, technology distributor, telco, third-party distributor, IoT, mobility, CCaaS and UCaaS.
AppDirect said the acquisition adds headcount to its team of technology advisors and allows it to expand its services reach to more customers, the companies said. AppDirect said it will protect existing channel partner relationships, but the acquisition is already leading to numerous layoffs, according to reports from earlier this week when the acquisition was announced.
For current AppDirect advisors, TBI’s engineering and educational resources will provide them with an enhanced level of support and enablement. TBI advisors will more easily find, buy, and manage technology solutions and expand their portfolios, the companies said.
AppDirect Acquires TBI: 'A Crowning Achievement'
Nicolas Desmarais, chairman and CEO, AppDirect, commented on the news:
“I’m thrilled to welcome TBI into the AppDirect community. This is a crowning achievement that gives shape to the relationship-based marketplace approach we believe is the way of the future for B2B commerce. By combining the power of our platform and our entire ecosystem with TBI’s approach to the advisor-business relationship, we can provide a level of service for advisors that goes well beyond what has been achieved before,” he added.
Geoffrey Shepstone, president, TBI, added:
“Our advisors will now have access to the world’s most diversified and largest catalog of technology solutions, making it easier for them to sell and cross-sell a much greater range of products to their customers, and drive new sources of revenue. They will also be able to manage their entire business in one place. The AppDirect platform provides businesses and partners with access to identity management, data visualization, workflow and applications management solutions to help them manage all of their technology through the AppDirect Marketplace,’ he added.
AppDirect M&A Activity
AppDirect is no stranger to M&A. In February 2022, AppDirect acquired Canada's ITCloud.ca to expand the combined company's presence and scale ITCloud.ca's business and portfolio.
