AvePoint IPO Fuels First Global Partner Program on Eve of Microsoft Inspire

Less than two weeks after AvePoint launched its IPO, the Microsoft 365 tools provider went live with its first global partner program. AvePoint, which offers a wide portfolio of Office 365 migration, governance and data protection solutions, introduced the program on Tuesday.

As one of Microsoft’s largest ISV’s, AvePoint has an expanding portfolio of SharePoint, Office 365 and Teams management tools. Now live is the first iteration of AvePoint’s new partner portal, which includes deal registration, incentives, a managed services component and new training capabilities.

The program is debuting on the eve of the Microsoft Inspire partner conference, a two-day virtual event that begins Wednesday. Jason Beal, who AvePoint tapped six months ago as its global channel chief, acknowledged that the timing is no coincidence.

Since its founding two decades ago, AvePoint has offered solutions designed to manage Microsoft’s collaboration and productivity offerings. Expanding its total addressable market (TAM) with Microsoft is a key goal of the new partner program, according to Beal.

AvePoint’s Jason Beal

“We looked at some of Microsoft’s programs and messaging to their partner community, and we have really tried to align to that,” Beal told Channel Futures.

Beal emphasized that because it’s brand-new, it’s a modern program that doesn’t have to address any legacy issues. Instead of the typical platinum, gold and silver, AvePoint’s program consists of just authorized and invested partners.

“This program meets the modern partner, and the partner business models of the of the future,” Beal added. “We’ve built the program that doesn’t just look at compensating partners on the resale of our license, but also building this economic opportunity. Certainly, there are discounts; certainly, there are deal-reg incentives; there are services, opportunities. We have a managed services component, and we will help partners build unique go-to-market solutions that they can monetize in different ways.”

Funding Growth

Until recently, AvePoint has sold most of its solutions direct to large enterprise customers. The company decided to accelerate its growth by adding solutions for small and midsize businesses (SMBs). The decision to expand its TAM resulted in the AvePoint IPO, arranged late last year when Apex, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), agreed to acquire the company.

The deal, which closed June 30, resulted in AvePoint becoming a public company traded on the Nasdaq exchange July 2. In the first seven days of trading, AvePoint shares have languished. But board director Jeff Epstein believes AvePoint will grow from this year’s projected revenue of $190 million, to $1 billion over time.

Proceeds of the AvePoint IPO are slated to fund the channel program, international expansion and building on Microsoft 365 growth. Bill Wootton, founder and president of C3 Integrated Solutions, is an MSP that typically uses AvePoint’s migration, governance and backup tools for its Microsoft 365 and Teams deployments.

C3’s Bill Wootton

“While Microsoft has really good tools at the file level and at the tenant level, to be able to police that, AvePoint fills that gap in the middle, where at the workspace level, we can now get some granularity that we don’t have with the with the legacy Microsoft services,” Wootton said. “In most cases, it’s incremental to what Microsoft offers that allows us to give a bit of a better overall solution to our clients.”

Having doubled in size last year, C3 is close to doing so again this year. Wootton said he welcomes AvePoint’s new partner program.

“I’m super excited about them doing this because it’s going to lend more resources, more power to what they do already,” Wootton said.

Expanding Beyond Microsoft

While saying its business revolves around the SharePoint, Microsoft 365 and Teams platforms, AvePoint has already expanded its sights. Earlier this year, AvePoint announced a Salesforce backup tool. And now, AvePoint is adding Google Workplace backup to the mix. Roughly 1,250 MSPs AvePoint works with buy through various cloud marketplaces, Beal noted.

“With both Salesforce and Google Workplace, the fact is a lot of those MSPs have customers who are using those vendors’ applications,” Beal said. “Microsoft remains the predominant share of our partner community. But if you look at our distributors around the globe, many of them have opened up their line cards, and are now actively working with Google. They now have reach into those Google partner ecosystems. And they can leverage the expanding breadth of our portfolio to help bring yet another solution to their partners.”