Private equity firm Vista acquires well-funded cloud backup startup Datto
Against the backdrop of another major buyout in enterprise technology, Vista Equity Partners LLC on Thursday announced plans to acquire Datto Inc., a cloud-based data protection provider.
The terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the price tag is likely quite considerable based on the available information. Datto has raised about $100 million from investors since launching in 2007 and operates offices throughout nearly a dozen major cities worldwide.
The company sells tools that let companies back up data from employee devices, backend infrastructure and cloud services such as Office 365 to a managed off-premise environment. Datto also offers a variety of complementary products, including a cloud-based file sharing platform similar to Dropbox.
Datto sells its offerings to service providers, which in turn deliver them to businesses. According to a press release from June, the company’s products are used to protect the data of more than 50,000 organizations.
Vista has big plans for Datto. The private-equity firm, which has struck multiple billion-dollar-plus deals over recent quarters, plans to merge Datto with another portfolio company called Autotask that it had acquired in 2014. Autotask sells a cloud-based platform that helps service providers manage and analyze key aspects of their operations, including backups.
According to the acquisition announcement, the combined entity will have nearly 13,000 customers supporting some 500,000 businesses. The merged workforce is in turn set to include about 1,300 employees spread out over nine countries.
They’ll be working under the leadership of Datto Chief Executive Officer Austin McChord, who has been appointed to run the new organization once the merger is complete. His counterpart at Autotask, Mark Cattini, is moving to the role of strategic adviser.
Vista’s acquisition of Datto is on track to close by the end of the year. The data protection provider was advised by Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC on the sale.
Image: Datto
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