A specialist cloud companies market which has topped Insider’s Yorkshire Progress 100 has been been acquired.
Based in Hull in 1999 as an web service supplier, Giacom now gives a platform for all of the cloud software program, infrastructure and IT assist companies that an ITC may require to transition an SME shopper right into a public or personal cloud setting, after which handle them on an ongoing foundation.
It has been bought to Digital Wholesale Options (DWS) by personal fairness agency Livingbridge, which first invested in Giacom in 2017, having recognized the potential to capitalise on SMEs’ growing adoption of cloud software program, and their want for ITCs to assist them navigate the ever-complex digital panorama.
Since then, Giacom has develop into the UK’s largest unbiased cloud portal, with a extremely specialised and large-scale distribution platform. Its cloud platform now companies over 70,000 end-user SMEs and over 1 million particular person licenses, through its 3,400 ITC shoppers.
The deal additionally marks an exit for minority shareholder LDC which has been invested in Giacom since 2016.
Giacom’s distinctive progress has continued all through the Covid-19 pandemic; since March, the enterprise has grown each its income and SME base, and has continued to win new ITCs in keeping with earlier months.
Led by chief govt Mike Wardell, and supported by a extremely skilled administration workforce, Giacom has created a collaborative office tradition that has been recognised via quite a few awards, cementing its repute inside the business.
Since Livingbridge’s acquisition, Giacom topped the Insider’s Growth 100, an inventory of the quickest rising companies in Yorkshire, and has featured within the Sunday Occasions Tech Observe 100 league desk for the fourth consecutive 12 months.
DWS is a excessive progress, channel-only software program platform enterprise offering IT, communications and cloud services and products to greater than 2,500 UK companions, with experience in Voice, Cellular, Unified Comms and Connectivity companies.
Mike Wardell will stay in publish, main the Giacom enterprise with the assist of his current administration workforce.
The enterprise will proceed to function its vastly profitable, clear and easy, customer-first, channel centered mannequin below the Giacom model. The added worth to clients would be the potential alternatives to cross-pollinate merchandise and share experience via the group of companies.
Mike Wardell stated: “This has been a extremely profitable collaboration with Livingbridge. Their expertise within the tech sector and of rising companies and their deep digital expertise have enabled us to construct on the sturdy momentum we had generated earlier than our partnership, and attain the following stage. We are actually well-positioned to embark on the following step of our progress journey with Digital Wholesale Options, and stay up for creating our future collectively.”
Adam Holloway at Livingbridge, stated: “It has been an actual pleasure to accomplice with Giacom over the previous three years by offering the assist required to rework the enterprise and quickly construct market share. With extra folks working from house over the long-term and corporations overhauling their methods to maximise workforce productiveness, cloud know-how adoption is simply anticipated to speed up. We want Mike and his workforce the most effective of luck in fulfilling this potential.”
Terry O’Brien, chief govt of DWS, stated: “I’ve admired the Giacom enterprise for a lot of years – a fantastic channel-only enterprise, obsessed about delivering nice merchandise and a fantastic expertise for companions via a fantastic platform.
“We now have a lot in widespread by way of focus, methods of working and values. Bringing collectively these two excessive progress companies in Unified comms and Cloud companies is a big step ahead in our plans to assist an ever converging ICT accomplice channel. I believe this will likely be nice for our mixed 5,500 companions and I’m actually trying ahead to working with Mike and his workforce at Giacom.”
The principal advisers on this exit for Livingbridge included Alantra (Company Finance – James Chapman-Andrews, Oliver Norman, Jamie Dickson and Milan Vashi), Pinsent Masons (Authorized), PwC (Business due diligence) and KPMG (Monetary due diligence).
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