Agent M&A Continues: Upstack Buys PacTech Partners

Upstack has purchased another consulting firm.

The New York-based direct-selling agency on Thursday announced the purchase of PacTech Partners. PacTech provides vendor-neutral network and communications technology sourcing for large enterprises.

Upstack’s Chris Wright

Owner Chris Wright, who founded the consulting company in 2014, joins Upstack as an advisory and equity holder. Upstack has been using a $50 million private equity investment to attract high-performing agencies to its team. Upstack CEO Christopher Trapp has described his company as “agent-owned.”

“We’re excited to welcome Chris to the Upstack family,” Upstack CEO Christopher Trapp said. “Chris built PacTech into one of the fastest-growing technology agencies in only six years. This achievement is even more impressive, considering he pivoted to tech from a career in finance. I’m confident that his tenacity backed by the Upstack platform will be unstoppable.”

Upstack’s Christopher Trapp

A Bold Start

Wright entered the telecom agent channel after a 13 years in financial services. He immediately went after large customers and reaped the dividends. He surpassed six figures in monthly recurring revenue in his first year, according to a news release.

“I knew that no matter how big the company, I had the resources to develop the solution my client needed,” said Wright. “So, I would go after the largest companies in the world, not fearing that they’re going to have a question that I wouldn’t be able to answer.”

Wright said he found Upstack’s partnership model to be unique. Upstack brings together a roster of agencies that specialize in different types of technologies. As a result, a UCaaS-focused agent might team up with a colocation-focused agent to help a customer who needs help in both areas.

“I just felt Chris Trapp had not only the knowledge and connections to take Upstack to the next level, but also the technology,” Wright said. “I wanted to be part of something that was going to revolutionize or upend the current way of doing things in our space.”

In the meantime, Upstack’s platform automates components of the design and ordering process.

“We found out that if we could find ways to extract a lot of the non-production related activities on their plate, those agents in turn could be focusing much more of their effort in actually driving product and growing their businesses more rapidly with a much more comprehensive infrastructure behind them,” Trapp said earlier this year

PacTech Partners operates out of Southern California.

Upstack most recently announced the purchase of CloudWirx. We have also written about about Upstack’s purchase of M2 Enterprise Group and CloudNexion.