Upstack Annual Report Gives Clues Into TA Market Size

Upstack is managing more than $550 million in annual technology spend, according to a recent report by the technology advisory firm.

New York-based Upstack on Tuesday published its 2023 Annual Report detailing the scale the company has reached. The vendors Upstack sources for its business customers are billing more than $550 million on an annual basis.

Last year it reported $400 million in tech spend that customers negotiated with Upstack vendors.

Moreover, the company said it possesses more than 6,500 active customers, up from 6,000 in 2022.

Upstack in its annual report pointed to process improvements, including a client portal, that led to faster installations and higher NPS scores. The company says it is developing a set of web services called Upstack OS to give customers access to more real-time vendor information.

Upstack also has been growing inorganically. As of last month, Upstack had announced 32 different acquisitions of agencies, leveraging funds from Berkshire Partners, MidCap Financial and Morgan Stanley Private Credit. Upstack has announced seven acquisitions of agent customer bases since the beginning of 2023.

Upstack CEO Chris Trapp called 2023 "transformative" for his company.

Upstack's Chris Trapp

"Amid a time of macro uncertainty in the financial markets, ongoing supply chain constraints and changes in end-user behavior, our customers turned to Upstack to optimize their digital infrastructure to create business opportunities and competitive advantage," Trapp said. "The rapidly growing Upstack team did what they do best – evolved their capabilities to tackle a myriad of challenges both big and small – while staying true to our mission and our unwavering commitment to customer excellence, all with the highest of integrity.”

The company has brought aboard more than 200 "Upstackers" via acquisitions and hires.

Upstack Annual Report: An Industry Benchmark?

Companies in the technology advisor/agent channel historically have stayed tight-lipped about their financial numbers. Agents operate a complex compensation model, in which the vendor pays a commission to the contract-holding services distributor, who then pays out the majority of that commission to the agent. As a result, the distributors have historically held key information about the size and scope of the agent market.

However, Upstack and other large, well-funded peers on the customer-facing side are sharing more data about their books of business, providing clues about the size of the market.

See the slideshow above for takeaways from Upstack's annual report and observations from other technology firms about how they are growing.