Turnium acquires Sydney-based channel partner specialist Insentra
Insentra, a Sydney-based ‘partner-only’ IT advisory and services firm, has been acquired by Canadian technology-as-a-service provider Turnium in a deal worth up to around $16 million.
Insentra was established by chief executive Ronnie Altit in Sydney in 2010 alongside fellow former Dimension Data senior leaders Itzik Gur (CTO) and Steven Boi (director), with a bold ploy to focus on serving channel partners alone.
Turnium, meanwhile, is headquartered in Vancouver, and likewise concentrates on the channel community through its technology-as-a-service focus and other offerings delivered by a headcount which is now set to grow to around the 150-mark.
Listed on the Toronto ventures stock exchange (TSXV), Turnium Technologies Group has been led since the middle of last year by Perth-based global CEO Doug Childress, who previously co-founded local outfit Intelligent IP Communications prior to its acquisition by internet services provider BigAir in 2013, which then got picked up by Superloop.
“We will more than triple the size of our company through the acquisition of Insentra,” Childress said, in a distinctive southern American accent originating from somewhere in between Arizona and Georgia. “Sydney-based, they have over 80 staff, and we’re now going to be 150-plus-strong with boots on the ground in the US, Canada, UK, and across Australia.”
Turiam describes its portfolio as directed at entities operating under numerous tech acronyms, including ISPs, MSPs, IT providers, VoIP, and CCaaS providers, or cloud as to the latter. The firm said that its channel-only model will remain unchanged following the Insentra acquisition, which is expected to clear by the end of the year, with both firms committed to its existing approach.
As per Turnium, which started out in the field of software development in 2012, the firm additionally provides ‘deployment resources, hardware, support, and marketing and sales enablement’ to help channel partners go to market faster while ‘delivering exceptional quality’ with the offer of ‘secure, cost-effective, uninterrupted, and scalable global IT solutions’.
Meanwhile, Insentra has been serving clients across Australia covering a wide range of industries since its establishment by ‘four veteran IT professionals in a garage in Sydney’ in 2010, including those in the government, education, financial services, transport, telecommunications, oil & gas, and manufacturing and construction sectors among others.
Altit, who will now become Turnium’s global head of sales & marketing, said in a wildly-different accent to that of Childress – “We are excited to be joining forces. Insentra has been built on trust, enduring relationships and a passion for helping our partners succeed. This transaction enhances the opportunities available to our clients by providing access to a broader suite of innovative services.”
Starting out as a management consultant with BDO back in the early 90s, Altit added: “We’re about helping partners solve some of their biggest problems, whether it’s pre-sales, delivery or delivering a managed or 24/7 service. We have created a business model that challenged the status quo, and also a great place to work, proving that scaling doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice culture.”
According to Turnium’s Canadian stock exchange filings, Insentra has been banking annual revenues in excess of $30 million, with its purchase offer including around $6.5 million in shares and local cash and performance and bonus pay-outs of up to around $10 million local, totalling a potential payout of greater than $15 million for its Australian founders and investors.
