Private Equity Firm TA Associates Acquired StorageCraft, Investing $187 Million

TA Associates Management, L.P., a private equity firm, announced signed a definitive agreement to invest $187,000,000 in StorageCraft Technology Corporation, an international provider of backup and recovery software, to support the growth of the company.

Additional terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The investment is expected to close in late January.

In connection with the investment, Matt Medeiros has joined StorageCraft as chairman and CEO.
 
Primarily serving SMBs, StorageCraft provides backup, DR, system migration, virtualization and data protection solutions for servers, desktops and laptops on Windows and Linux platforms. The company’s integrated product suite is designed to reduce downtime, improve management and stability of systems and data, and lower the total cost of system ownership in both physical and virtual environments. Software solutions are available in traditional on-premise license form through more than 8,000 value-added resellers, and on a subscription basis through approximately 3,100 MSPs. In addition, the company is an OEM for a number of third-party backup and recovery solution providers.

Founded in 2003, StorageCraft is headquartered in Draper, UT, with a European HQs in Cork, Ireland, and regional offices around the world.
 
Matt Medeiros joins StorageCraft from Dell SonicWALL, where he served as GM of security software. Prior to Dell’s acquisition of SonicWALL, Inc. in 2012, he served as CEO and president of SonicWALL, a position he held since joining the company in 2003. He is a computer networking and software industry veteran with more than 35 years of PC manufacturing, operations and materials management experience includes a number of senior executive-level positions with Apple Computer, NeXT Computer and Phillips Electronics.

 
“We are excited about this investment and to welcome a highly credentialed technology executive like Matt to the company,” said Jonathan W. Meeks, a MD, TA Associates, who will join the StorageCraft board of directors. “With its award-winning BC and DR product suite, StorageCraft has had notable success, directly and indirectly serving over 10,000 MSPs. In keeping with TA’s long-established investment approach, we will collaborate closely with Matt and his team to further grow the company.“
 
“StorageCraft has become a thriving international software development company because of the performance and reliability of our products,” said Medeiros. “This investment is further testament to StorageCraft’s achievements. We see a number of avenues to expand StorageCraft’s product offering and to grow our client base, particularly in international markets, and anticipate TA will play a central role in these efforts. We will continue to aim to build best-in-class products and programs specifically designed for channel partners.”
 
“The investment from TA marks an important milestone for StorageCraft,” said Curt James, VP marketing and business development, StorageCraft. “We take great pride in the company’s many accomplishments since its inception in 2003, but recognize there is still significant opportunity to expand. We view this partnership with TA Associates as the next big step in our evolution and look forward to further building our business with their support.“
 
Gartner valued the BC/DR market at $5.2 billion in 2014, and predicts it will reach $7 billion by 2019, a 6% CAGR. According to MarketsandMarkets, global DR as a Service is the fastest growing component of the recovery market and is forecast to increase to $5.8 billion by 2018 from approximately $640 million in 2013, a 55% CAGR.
 
“Computer down-time, whether due to human error, malware, disaster or other failure, remains a huge challenge for businesses,” said Jason P. Werlin, MD, TA Associates who will also join the StorageCraft board of directors. “Growth in data and in virtualized environments, legal and regulatory requirements, and increased demand for information management, are among the drivers of expansion of the BC and DR markets. Given these industry dynamics and StorageCraft’s established market position, we expect a continuation of the company’s impressive growth.“
 
Goodwin Procter is providing legal counsel services to TA Associates. Holland & Hart LLP is serving as legal counsel and Boston Meridian Partners is providing advisory services to StorageCraft.
 
TA Associates is a large global growth private equity firms. The firm has invested in more than 450 companies around the world and has raised $24 billion in capital. With offices in Boston, Menlo Park, London, Mumbai and Hong Kong, it leads buyouts and minority recapitalizations of profitable growth companies in the technology, financial services, business services, healthcare and consumer industries.