New Agent Acquisitions, Deals: Upstack, Renodis, Bridgepointe
One Minnesota-based agency bought a company; another was bought.
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Upstack, which has been acquiring agents using funding from Berkshire Partners and other investments, purchased Digital Planet.
The 21-year-old agency will join Upstack for an undisclosed sum, which makes Digital Planet president Shawn Schmidt an Upstack partner and managing director. Digital Planet’s vice presidents Brent Killen and Jonathan Watkins will settle into roles as Upstack partners.
Upstack CEO Christopher Trapp called Digital Planet a trailblazer. For example, Digital Planet partnered with telephony resellers to bundle phone system and network services sales. The company teamed with Intelisys in 2007 to help “underserved” VARs with telecom.
Digital Planet went on to purchase other partners, including Compass Communications in 2014. It particularly targeted VAR and integrator firms.
“Their ability to see where the market is going and seize the opportunity is a great match for Upstack’s vision and culture,” Trapp said. “We’re excited to welcome Shawn, Brent and Jonathan to the Upstack family, and we’re thrilled to bring their expertise and experience to our advisory team.”
Digital Planet is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Schmidt came from Qwest Communications, which bought his employer, Phoenix Network, in 1993.
He went on to serve as vice president of internet technologies for Cable & Wireless. He founded Digital Planet in 2001.
He said in a news release that Digital Planet had been considering potential partnerships to scale the business.
“Simply put, we wanted to go where the all-stars are,” he said. “Some of the greatest support people we have worked with over the years had joined Upstack. We felt confident that our growth would be supported.”
Brent Killen agreed.
“We’ve done a tremendous job growing our organization in the last few years,” Killen said. “To continue bringing on enterprise clients, we needed to team up with a larger brand with dedicated resources that could provide technology solutions and customer support for these large companies.”
In another deal featuring a St. Paul, Minnesota-based partner, Renodis announced the acquisition of Eric Ryan Corporation.
Pennsylvania-based Eric Ryan dubs itself a utility and telecommunications management firm. The financially undisclosed transaction makes it a Renodis subsidiary.
Renodis used Cherry Tree & Associates as its investment banking advisor and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath as its legal advisor.
In addition, Eric Ryan used Gleason Advisors as its investment banking advisor and Meyer Unkovic & Scott as its legal advisor.
The deal represents Renodis’ fifth acquisition, according to CEO Craig Beason. Earlier this year Renodis bought stakes in RCN and RTech to bolster its wireless capabilities.
Beason said Renodis will continue to expand on the East Coast.
“Renodis’ most important priority has always been ensuring the resiliency of our clients’ connectivity, advising on the right technologies, and providing best-in-class managed solutions,” Beason said in a news release.
Renodis recently became TBI’s first diamond partner.
The announcement indicated that Eric Ryan CEO Keith Venezie will remain at the company. The former Electronic Data Systems computer analyst before launching ERC in 1990.
“I am delighted by the synergy between ERC and Renodis. Our missions and company values are very similar – to ensure our clients have access to the industry’s best outcomes and lower costs,” Venezie said. “We look forward to the positive impacts of our team joining Renodis and the new added value we can provide to our clients.”
Telarus recently honored ERC for joining its partner Hall of Fame.
Beason said ERC’s expense management services will enhance the customer experience for Renodis.
“This will add value to our clients and provide new offerings to help them reduce costs and increase resiliency,” Beason said.
Bridgepointe Technologies has handed “Partner” status to four partners in the last month and a half.
Chris Sandell, Nate Cruz, Bobby Simon and Chad Cook have received the nod from the San Mateo, California-based company. All of those announcements involved a strategic growth or equity investment.
As forewarned, section is more M&A-adjacent, but it fits very well into the larger conversation about M&A. Bridgepointe landed $100-plus million from private equity firm Charlesbank earlier this year with a intention of spreading the wealth to its partners.
With more and more investment options emerging for partners, Bridgepointe’s new war chest served as a key way to reward the loyalty of some of its top IT strategist partners.
Bridgepointe Technologies has handed “Partner” status to four partners in the last month and a half.
Chris Sandell, Nate Cruz, Bobby Simon and Chad Cook have received the nod from the San Mateo, California-based company. All of those announcements involved a strategic growth or equity investment.
As forewarned, section is more M&A-adjacent, but it fits very well into the larger conversation about M&A. Bridgepointe landed $100-plus million from private equity firm Charlesbank earlier this year with a intention of spreading the wealth to its partners.
With more and more investment options emerging for partners, Bridgepointe’s new war chest served as a key way to reward the loyalty of some of its top IT strategist partners.
The technology advisor space, also known as the agent channel, is seeing a constant stream of financial transactions.
The agent partner model continues to grow its adoption with vendors and customers. In the meantime, investors are showing more interest in partners than ever, and agents are making moves ensure their long-term financial stability. They might need the capital to scale or in many cases need a retirement option. Some agents are joining private equity-fueled rollups with their peers. Others are making one-off moves to buy or be bought by a fellow agent. Still, others are accepting financing or “partner” status from their distribution partner.
Keep up with the latest channel-impacting mergers and acquisitions in our M&A roundup. |
All three types of deals occurred in the last month. The first story involves Upstack, which on Tuesday added to its list of agent acquisition. The second story, announced last Friday, involves Minnesota-based Renodis purchasing Pennsylvania-based Eric Ryan Corporation. The third story doesn’t land in the proper category of M&A, but it involves Bridgepointe Technologies putting its investment from Charlesbank Capital Partners to good use.
Go through the images above to see the latest agent-related M&A.
Want to contact the author directly about this story? Have ideas for a follow-up article? Email James Anderson or connect with him on LinkedIn. |
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