Helm Partners Agrees to Bluewave Technology Group Acquisition

Helm Partners, one of the agent channel’s largest technology advisor firms, has joined forces with private equity-backed Bluewave Technology Group.

The companies on Wednesday announced Bluewave’s acquisition of Helm. The transaction brings together two of the bigger players on the East Coast. Pennsylvania-based Helm has deep enterprise consulting expertise as well as a strong cloud communications skill set.

Bluewave isn’t saying how much it’s paying for Helm.

Helm executives say Bluewave’s unified processes and life cycle management capabilities will help drive deeper relationships with customers. Bluewave has used private equity funding to bring together several complementary agencies and standardize them around a single platform.

Bluewave’s Seth Penland

“We are at an inflection point in the transformation to digital where the technology ecosystem is changing rapidly and becoming increasingly complex. Helping our clients embrace these changes requires our combined capabilities with Helm,” Bluewave founder and CEO Seth Penland said. “Helm’s deep technical acumen, diligence, and consideration of client requirements, together with their substantial relationships with vendors, provide our clients with the advantage they need to stay ahead of the competition.”

Helm Partners’ Rich Wilson

In addition, Bluewave’s $75 million-plus war chest from Columbia Capital will accelerate Helm’s growth plan, Helm CEO Rich Wilson told Channel Futures.

“We would have had to invest in all of this stuff in 2023 if we stayed by ourselves, and instead it made much more sense to to get there faster on both sides and complete this deal,” said Wilson, who will serve as chief strategy officer at Bluewave.

Staying In the Business

Helm will fully integrate into Bluewave, taking on the Bluewave brand. However, it will maintain its office in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. According to an statement, Wilson and managing partners David Grau and Paul Weiss are equity partners in Bluewave. Helm managing partner Bill Quinlan will take up a senior management role in the company. Moreover, Wilson said everyone in Helm’s 35-person team will be going over to Bluewave.

“They’re not picking pieces of us or taking certain groups. We are merging the entire organization into the entire Bluewave organization. The ownership is in for the long haul,” he said.

Wilson shared details with Channel Futures about why his team agreed to the acquisition and where he sees customer demand moving. See the eight slides above to see his comments.