Mergers and Acquisitions, Mergers and Acquisitions, MSP, Content, Private equity, Vertical markets

Financial Services MSP Acquired: Abacus Group Buys Echo Technology Solutions

Abacus Group, a Top 100 vertical market MSP focused on the financial services market, has acquired Echo Technology Solutions -- a San Francisco-based MSP that supports venture capital firms. A separate Echo business unit, focused on Salesforce cloud projects, was not included in the deal.

This is technology M&A deal number 705 that ChannelE2E has covered so far in 2021.

Abacus, founded in 2008, positions itself as the leading MSP for alternative investment firms. The MSP has grown both organically and through acquisitions -- including Hedgepoint Solutions in 2018 and Proactive Technologies in 2019. The MSP's 200 employees now support more than 650 investment management firms across the United States and United Kingdom. Armed with Echo, Abacus claims to be the largest provider of IT services to financial firms in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Abacus Acquires Echo: MSP Executive Perspectives

Abacus Group CEO Chris Grandi
Abacus Group CEO Chris Grandi

In a prepared statement about the Echo acquisition, Abacus CEO Chris Grandi said.

“The majority of Echo IT clients are venture capital firms, which aligns with Abacus’ specialization in providing IT services to the finance industry. We are excited to welcome the Echo IT team and clients into the Abacus family.”

Randy Hyshiver, formerly director of IT Services at Echo, will assume the role of general manager of the Echo IT division within Abacus Group.  In a prepared statement, Hyshiver said:

“I’m thrilled to be joining Abacus and to lead Echo IT through this new era under Abacus. Abacus brings a breadth of resources to both Echo clients and employees, with an extensive array of back-of-house functions and dedicated technology and cybersecurity teams.”

Abacus has offices in New York, NY; San Francisco, CA; Boston, MA; Dallas, TX; Greenwich, CT; Los Angeles, CA; Charlotte, NC; and London, England.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.