Softbank Invests In Pax8; MSP Cloud Marketplace Nears $2B Valuation -

MSP cloud marketplace provider Pax8 has raised $185 million at a $1.7 billion valuation.

Key Pax8 investors in this round include Softbank, Catalyst Investors, Sageview Capital, Blue Cloud Ventures, and Liberty Global Ventures, the participants said.

The funding announcement comes the same day that Kaseya, backed by Insight Partners and several other private equity firms, acquired Datto for $6.2 billion. The key takeaway: Venture capital firms and private equity firms continue to shine an even brighter light on the MSP technology market.

Pax8: MSP Cloud Marketplace Focus, Business Growth, Acquisitions

Roughly 20,000 MSPs leverage Pax8's cloud marketplace to find, select, deploy and manage various SaaS and IT automation solutions for SMB customers. In some ways, Pax8 has been disrupting traditional IT distributors in the cloud market. In other ways, Pax8 has been redefining how MSPs source and manage customer applications worldwide.

Pax8 previously raised $96 million in funding in January 2021. The company has been growing both organically and through M&A. Key moves include:

January 2022: Acquiring TVG, a Microsoft cloud services partner and software distributor in northeastern Europe;

July 2021: acquired Microsoft Azure and 365 cloud partner Resello;

May 2021: acquired Sea-Level Operations for MSP education services;

January 2021: acquired Microsoft Azure cloud partner Wirehive; and

January 2021: announced a UK leadership team for expansion into Europe.

Softbank Invests In Pax8: Executive Perspetives

In a prepared statement about the April 2022 funding announcement, Pax8 CEO John Street said:

“As we continue to evolve our technology and marketplace to meet the needs of SMBs, the new investment will provide capital to accelerate innovation and continued expansion into new global markets. This strong funding round reflects the powerful work Pax8 is doing to enable and grow SMBs through our partners, employees, technology, education, and support. Year over year, we continue to experience record-breaking growth, and we look forward to working with SoftBank to continue elevating our performance.”

Added Nagraj Kashyap, managing partner at SoftBank:

“Pax8 has disrupted the IT industry, exemplified courage through innovation, and has built the people, processes, and technology to revolutionize the way businesses build and consume technology Under John’s leadership Pax8 has shown ongoing success and we believe its vision for the future will prove to be transformative for B2B markets.”

Concluded Kristin Bannon, investment director at SoftBank Investment Advisers:

“Through its marketplace, Pax8 is empowering SMBs with technology solutions they would otherwise not have access to while simultaneously granting software vendors distribution capabilities to a hard-to-reach customer segment. I am thrilled to join the Pax8 Board and partner with the company on its hyper-growth technology strategy for the platform and cloud marketplace, and new opportunities for the company and its ecosystem of partners.”

Pax8 Talent Pool

So what's next? Pax8 has roughly 970 employees as of April 11, 2022, according to LinkedIn. It's a safe bet Pax8 is seeking to further expand its talent pool. We'll be watching to see who potentially dives in...