Mark White never thought he would be where he is now a year ago. And why would he?
The native Louisvillian built his telecommunications service company, Virtual Telecomm LLC, from the ground up. Founded in 2004, the local company had grown into one of the most reputable in its industry — particularly in the expertise areas of SD-WAN (software defined wide area networks) and UCaaS (unified communications as a service).
The company was also recognized as one of Louisville Business First's Best Places to Work for the third consecutive year in 2022.
Yet, on Nov. 1, Bluewave Technology Group — headquartered out of Parsippany, New Jersey in the New York metro area — acquired Virtual Telecomm for an undisclosed amount of money. No financial details of the transaction have been made publicly available.
The deal, which was signed about two weeks before it was announced, ended a six-month courtship between the two companies.
“We have a great reputation in the community, and have great employees, so [an acquisition] really was not on my radar,” White told me about joining Bluewave, “But one of the things that we've always prided ourselves on is staying ahead of the curve and making sure we know what's coming next."
What’s next, by and large, White said, is a continually increasing amount of cyber attacks that threaten his clients on a daily basis. Medium-sized businesses like Virtual Telecomm require additional resources to bring solutions, which can come with a high price tag.
“First and foremost, it's about giving great advice to clients,” said Bluewave founder and CEO Seth Penland, “And Mark and his team had a great reputation in the Louisville market of working with great customers providing great advice to help them.”
By joining Bluewave, White and his team can provide more robust security measures for his more than 1,000 clients — as the company continues to acquire businesses to create a technology advisory and lifecycle management company with a national presence. That effort comes on the heels of a $75 million influx of capital in February 2022 from Virginia-based Columbia Capital.
Penland told me the new capital served two primary functions:
To build out the executive team and to pursue merger and acquisitions as a means of expanding its professional services. When Penland founded Bluewave in 2016, the company’s primary focus was strategic sourcing of IT services before it expanded into a variety of in-house services.
Bluewave declined to disclose any specifics about its revenue, but noted that it has an aggressive growth strategy through organic growth and acquisitions, like Virtual Telecomm.
The Virtual Telecomm acquisition is Bluewave's fifth in the last 12 months. Most of those acquisitions are on the coasts, so this acquisition will help give Bluewave a presence in the middle of the country, Penland said.
Compared to the models of other acquisition companies that are prone to “throw a bunch of companies together,” White has impressed with how Bluewave has been intentional about its expansion. He also could tell there was a tradition of holding employees with the same kind of esteem.
"They just want to try to get as much EBITDA to the bottom line and try to sell it maybe someday,” White said of other potential suitors. "What really attracted me to [Bluewave] is they're trying to build a true, national lifecycle management company."
White had been serving as Virtual Telecomm’s chief strategy officer. In his new role, he will serve as an ambassador/equity partner in more of a consulting role along with his brother, Michael White, former vice president of partnerships; and Jason Hulsewede, former president.
Virtual Telecomm’s other 12 employees, 11 of whom live in the Louisville area, will remain with Bluewave. Penland added that he hopes to hire additional workers based out of the Louisville offices, located off of South Hurstbourne Parkway south of the Forest Hills neighborhood.
With the acquisition, Bluewave now has 80 employees across the country and a little more than 2,500 total clients.
Penland said that he first heard about Virtual Telecomm through a longtime strategic advisor with approximately 30 years of experience.
“He said, ‘You've got to get to know Mark and Michael and the team over there. They're doing some really interesting things,’” Penland said. “And that's how it started.”
