Datto Brand to Remain Intact, Assures Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola
The overarching theme, to put partners at ease, is that the Datto brand isn’t going anywhere.
April 21, 2022
![Fred Voccola stage Fred Voccola stage](https://eu-images.contentstack.com/v3/assets/blt10e444bce2d36aa8/blt6130da8379282423/65242efb24235ece272d1ccf/Fred-Voccola-stage.jpg?width=700&auto=webp&quality=80&disable=upscale)
“Here’s the reality. People, in the absence of information and having all the details, go right to fear, doubt, and uncertainty. That’s just human nature. None of us — you, me, my dog — like change. And this acquisition is change, on a rather large scale. And what magnifies it, is that Datto is a public company. So unlike when we bought IT Glue, or ID Agent, or RapidFireTools, or Spanning or any of our other acquisitions, we can’t talk about it in post-deal terms just yet.
“I would address it this way. Look at Kaseya’s track record of acquisitions. Throughout each integration, we’ve always kept the brand. We’ve done zero layoffs, and we’ve kept the autonomy of the company that we’ve acquired. Obviously now they are part of Kaseya — we integrate the back office system, the HR, the finance, etc. But we’ve kept the autonomy and more importantly, we’ve kept the culture of what makes these companies great.”
“We are not in the habit of buying companies and messing with what makes them great,” added Voccola. “That is not what we want to do, so our plan with Datto is not to do that.
“We are not eliminating the Datto brand. This deal was done on a growth basis, not on a cost reduction basis. Again, I want to reiterate that we are keeping the Datto brand, and we are supporting all products moving forward. All products.
“For a company like Kaseya, it might cost the company say, $15 million or $20 million more to maintain multiple products. So it’s much less expensive for a company to spend this kind of money to have 300 people building and working on these products over multiple segments, than it is to piss off 1,000 or 2,000 customers making them move to a different platform.”
“We are 1,000% keeping the Datto brand,” Voccola said. “We are keeping the culture that makes Datto a kickass, great company. Tim Weller created an awesome brand, Rob Rae is a legend in the industry … Datto is Datto.
“We are paying $6.2 billion for it because we want them. We’re doing this because we want to bring Datto, as it is, into Kaseya.”
“Our goal is to make sure we can give the most affordable option so our MSPs can make the most money,” said Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola in a 1:1 with Channel Futures. “When we buy companies, every single time, our aim is to make the technology more affordable. And we take a lot of pride in that. So price increases? We’ve never done it.
“Take our email backup solution as an example. About four or five years ago, we bought a company called Spanning. Today, there are about 20 different competitors in the backup space. Let’s use Acronis as an example. They are a great company with a great product, but they charge $2.20 per account to back it up every month. We charge 95 cents. When we bought Spanning, it cost around $1.90 to do it. Again, now, our price is now 95 cents.
“Look at RocketCyber, which is our managed SOC offering. When we acquired them, it was around $5.40 per device. Now, the list price is around $4 per device. So, our goal is, truly, to make sure we can provide the most affordable option.”
“Datto is staying Datto. One of the compelling reasons why we are buying them is because the company has, undeniably, unbelievable technology. We want to keep that and increase the investment in it.
“Datto has an awesome culture, particularly around MSPs and making MSP customer success almost a religion. We want to further invest in that religion. That is something we’re going to continue. There are no plans to shut down offices, there are no plans for mass reductions of data employees. That is not why we are buying Datto. We’re buying Datto because we want everything that makes them great. And we don’t plan to change that.”
“Datto is staying Datto. One of the compelling reasons why we are buying them is because the company has, undeniably, unbelievable technology. We want to keep that and increase the investment in it.
“Datto has an awesome culture, particularly around MSPs and making MSP customer success almost a religion. We want to further invest in that religion. That is something we’re going to continue. There are no plans to shut down offices, there are no plans for mass reductions of data employees. That is not why we are buying Datto. We’re buying Datto because we want everything that makes them great. And we don’t plan to change that.”
There are always two sides to every story. This one, in particular, is juicy. When the news broke that tech giant Kaseya was acquiring Datto, we immediately sought the reactions and insights of our partners regarding the deal. Mergers and acquisitions happen every day, but this one certainly sent shockwaves through the industry. Opinions fell on both sides of the fence. Some partners were hardly able to contain their excitement, while others gazed sullenly into the void.
We decided to see what Kaseya has to say about all of this.
But First, Stats
Kaseya on Thursday released the results of its latest “innovation cycle.” A few highlights include:
The private company reported a strong first quarter, which included new enhancements to its IT Complete suite of solutions. Growing cybersecurity, compliance and remote workforce management needs were at the forefront of this.
To support its expanding customer base, Kaseya is full-steam ahead on its goal to hire more than 1,000 people globally by the end of the year. One-half of those positions are based at the company’s headquarters in Miami.
Datto, now more than a year since going public, released its fourth-quarter and full-year 2021 financial results back in February. Interestingly, subscription revenue for full year 2021 was $577 million, up from $485 million in 2020. That’s a change of 19%. Total revenue was $619 million in 2021, up from $519 million in 2020. That’s another 19% uptick.
Kaseya’s Fred Voccola
This indicates solid growth for both companies, which bodes well leading into their impending merge.
We sat down with Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola to see what he had to say regarding his company’s pending acquisition of Datto.
Check out the gallery above to get Voccola’s side of the story as it relates to partner concerns.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email Allison Francis or connect with her on LinkedIn. |
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