A recent move from Evolve IP underscored its recent plans to pick up the pace on mergers and acquisitions as it landed Xtium, a company that offers several critical functions that can be readily delivered by or accommodated in the cloud. This is the eighth such acquisition in the last seven years, and makes it clear that Evolve will continue to do just as its name implies by adding new components.
The terms of the deal weren't disclosed, but reports suggest that with the new acquisition, the company will be able to improve its presence in the healthcare technology market. With Xtium under Evolve's umbrella, Evolve will get extra talent and experience, as well as access to the market that Xtium broke open so far.
No layoffs were planned as a result of the deal, and all 15 Xtium employees will be making a transfer to Evolve. This is a fairly big step for Evolve as it currently employs around 220 people in nine locations throughout the United States, so this move raises Evolve's total workforce by around 7 percent. Backed up by private equity firms like Great Hill Partners, which may represent over $100 million in equity and debt capital, an aggressive acquisition process is all the more possible.
Previously, Evolve had been seen offering cloud services to a variety of industries ranging from travel to insurance to even veterinary care, but now, Evolve can go more aggressively after the healthcare sector and deliver useful services to this rapidly-growing market front.
Xtium CEO Tim Vogel commented that the move would be a great one for the customer base, which now has access to the complete range of services offered by Evolve, like hosted contact centers, unified communications (UC) systems and IP phone systems. Vogel also noted “As an organization, we’re looking forward to leveraging Evolve IP’s national presence and infrastructure to further penetrate the healthcare technology space.”
Leaving aside Evolve's plan to essentially speed-evolve by osmosis, it's a worthwhile strategy to pursue. Even casual news-followers these days know that the country is graying and will need all the advances in healthcare technology that can be had. Being able to step into that market is a smart idea, and Evolve will need all the tools it can get to break into a market that's not only so necessary, but also so laden with regulations that navigating it can be spectacularly difficult.
With the tools Evolve now has on hand, it should be able to make a decent break into the field, and take a chunk of the rapidly-growing healthcare market for its own. That will give it a great platform to operate from when it expands outward, taking advantage of its various synergies to create a complete, multi-market approach to cloud-based systems.
Edited by
Alicia Young
