Private equity firm Abry Partners has invested in Asignet, a managed IT services provider (MSP) that's preparing to launch a robotic process automation (RPA) platform called Robot4IT.
The Abry Partners-Asignet deal sounds like a minority investment, and therefore doesn't quite qualify for our M&A deal tracker database -- which has documented 128 M&A deals in the technology industry so far in 2020.
Asignet is not yet well-known in the fast-growing RPA market -- which allows businesses and IT departments to automate workflows. At some point, RPA software is expected to go mainstream in the MSP market as well -- especially in the area of IT service desk automation.
Key players in the RPA market include Automation Anywhere, Blue Prism Group, NICE and UIPath. Many RPA players are well-funded. UiPath is valued at $7 billion and rumored to be preparing an IPO for 2021. Also, Automation Anywhere raised $290 million in Series B funding at a post-money valuation of $6.8 billion in November 2019.
Abry Partners Invests in Asignet: RPA Strategy Clues
In a prepared statement about the RPA push and funding, Asignet CEO Claudio Lopez Silva said:
“This exciting news means Asignet can execute on our vision to deliver on its patented RPA Robot process automation lifecycle expense management platform and managed service offering that will change the way Telecom, mobile, cloud, and IT services are managed and consumed."
Ahead of that Robot4IT launch, Asignet's core software and services already include:
- telecom expense management (TEM)
- mobility managed services (MMS)
- IT asset management (ITSM)
- Unified Communications as a Service (UCaaS) management
Abry Partners: MSP Investment Experience
Abry Partners has extensive investment and acquisition experience in the MSP market. The private equity firm's key moves include:
- January 2019: Investing in Options Technology, an MSP that offers managed cloud applications to financial services firms.
- August 2018: Backing NexusTek, an MSP that made three acquisitions in August 2018.
