Celerity spices up cloud services offer with Chilli-IT acquisition

"Celerity's focus going forward is building a service proposition to deliver our ambitions of managing, securing and transforming hybrid cloud environments," Celerity COO Craig Aston tells CRN

Infrastructure and cloud MSP Celerity has bought out Chester-HQ Chilli-IT, marking its first ever acquisition.

The deal aims to strengthen the MSP's technical expertise and expand Celerity's cloud prowess and client base.

"Celerity acquired Chilli-IT to expand our service offerings, strengthen our market position, and drive innovation," Celerity COO Craig Aston tells CRN.

"This strategic move allows us to leverage Chilli-IT 's specialised expertise in the IBM ecosystem, access new markets, whilst enhancing our talent pool. By integrating our strengths, we aim to deliver even greater value to our clients and accelerate our growth trajectory."

The combined business has an annual turnover of more than £40m and a team of 95.

Chilli is an IBM Gold Partner and managed service provider. Its team of 17 will maintain their roles and continue to operate from Chester under the Chilli-IT brand.

"In Celerity, we've found the ideal home for Chilli as their values match ours and the team has the same commitment as we do to innovation and helping clients achieve their ambitions," adds Chilli-IT founder Richard Warren.

Warren will be transitioning out of the business after a brief period working alongside the Celerity team to ensure a successful integration.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

More M&A on the horizon?

Originally founded as an enterprise infrastructure provider in 2002, Celerity has pivoted towards cloud, security, data protection and visualisation services in recent years.

In 2021, it received a £15m capital injection from growth equity firm BGF.

This is likely the first of several deals for the MSP, although Aston tells CRN the initial focus will be on integrating the Chilli acquisition.

"Celerity is looking for further acquisitions in the medium term to further enhance our service capability and to sit alongside the organic growth we have in our business."

While the firm is vague on the prospect of more deals this year, Aston hints that any potential M&A drive will remain firmly rooted in the MSP's cloud services offer.

"Celerity's focus going forward is building a service proposition to deliver our ambitions of managing, securing and transforming hybrid cloud environments," he says.

"This focus is both on growing our managed service portfolio, whilst also remaining as a provider of large infrastructure systems with our vendor partners. As regards to future acquisitions, we are looking for businesses that are complementary to Celerity, where they will enhance our offerings, or the skills required for the future."