Babble bests 20 bidders to bag latest buy

Acquisitive comms partner bolsters Microsoft skills with acquisition of TechQuarters

Babble beat off a field of 20 bidders to land its latest acquisition target, Microsoft partner TechQuarters, in a move it claims will mark it out from its "historical peers" in the comms space.

The acquisitive MSP yesterday announced it had acquired TechQuarters, alongside another Microsoft-focused MSP based in Bury, Stonegate.

This is the second brace of deals Babble has announced in 2023.

Babble said the addition of London-based TechQuarters would bolster its expertise across Office 365, Sentinel and Azure.

The deal will also "accelerate Babble's move from being the UK's leading cloud comms player to the leading cloud service provider in comms and IT", it claimed, adding that 85 per cent of TechQuarters' revenues are recurring in nature.

"We're already a Microsoft Gold Partner holding Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider status, growing faster than any other Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider partner," Babble CEO Matt Parker (pictured above) said.

"This deal accelerates our capabilities for the full range of Microsoft solutions that businesses rely upon and cements Babble as the only UK Cloud Service Provider of both comms and IT MSP solutions at scale.

"This moves us another step closer to our aim of being the UK's largest and preferred cloud service provider, with local ‘hubs' located across the country. The long-term goal of creating these hubs is so we can run the business as a national one, while still providing customers with the individual and local support that they need."

TechQuarters founder Chris Dunning branded it "a brilliant deal for everybody" (see bottom).

Backed by Graphite Capital, Babble was set to exit 2022 with a revenue runrate of close to £100m, Parker told CRN in October.

Brian Parker, founding director at ICON Corporate Finance, which advised on the deal, described TechQuarters' sale as a "hugely competitive process".

"The combination of a first-class team, strong organic customer growth, and recurring revenue attracted upwards of 20 bidders. We believe TechQuarters has found the best possible home as part Babble," he said.