Private Equity Firm Acquires AWS, Salesforce, Oracle Cloud Partner Apps Associates

by Ty Trumbull • Dec 4, 2017

Apps Associates CEO Sridhar Bogelli

BV Investment Partners has acquired majority control of Apps Associates, a global IT services company that specializes in cloud database migrations and managed services wrapped around Amazon Web Services (AWS), Oracle, Salesforce and NetSuite deployments. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the Apps Associates team will maintain “considerable ownership” in the business.

Apps Associates supports mission-critical business applications, and helps facilitate enterprise customers’ transition to cloud platforms. Much of Apps Associates’ recent work has involved Oracle customer migrations to AWS, though Oracle-centric deployments also remain key to the company. Apps Associates was founded in 2002 in Acton, Mass., by former Oracle Consulting Services employees.

The company has more than 800 employees spread across the United States, Europe, and India and nearly 200 active enterprise customers serving life sciences, manufacturing and distribution, technology, and business services industries, among others.

It sounds like Apps Associates evaluated potential investments from multiple companies before embracing BV Investment Partners as a new majority owner.

“We were careful in selecting a partner with the right experience in our sector, who can bring new ideas to the table and help us build upon the strong foundation already in place,” Sridhar Bogelli, CEO and Founder of Apps Associates, said in a prepared statement. “BV distinguished itself early on. We are very aligned in our vision and objectives, including first and foremost continuing to deliver exceptional value to our customers and enabling our associates to grow their careers.”

Oracle, Salesforce, AWS Partner Acquisitions

M&A activity involving cloud-centric Oracle NetSuite, AWS and Salesforce partners has accelerated this year. Additional example deals from 2017 include these…

1. Oracle-related partner deals:

• RSM UK acquiring First Hosted Limited (FHL), combining two Oracle NetSuite partners
• NTT acquiring Oracle, SAP Partner Secure-24
• Lightwell acquiring Oracle and SAP Partner Baax for analytics know-how

2. AWS-related partner deals:

• REAN Cloud acquiring AWS Partner 47Lining for Big Data expertise
• Deloitte acquiring Day1 Solutions, a Top 50 MSP focused on AWS
• HOSTING acquiring Stelligent Systems for AWS DevOps know-how

3. Salesforce-related partner deals:

• Capgemini acquiring Lyons Consulting Group
• Persistent Systems acquiring PARX
• Accenture acquiring Phase One

Additional insights from Joe Panettieri.