Evolve IP to Receive Majority Investment from Great Hill Partners to Drive Growth and Expansion

WAYNE, Pa., May 12, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Evolve IP, The Cloud Services Company™, today announced that it will receive a majority investment from Great Hill Partners, a leading middle-market growth-oriented private equity firm, providing growth capital and significant additional funds for strategic acquisitions. Evolve IP will use the capital to accelerate its growth plans, including increasing its product offerings, growing its geographic footprint and expanding headcount across all areas, while continuing to provide its customers and partners with solutions that are fast, efficient, cost-effective and secure. Evolve IP will also use this investment to expand and enhance its national distribution channels, including Value Added Resellers, Direct Market Resellers and Master Channel Partners. The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Since launching in 2007, Evolve IP has been one of the nation's fastest growing cloud services companies. Its industry-leading solutions are designed to provide organizations with a unified option for cloud services, including: virtual servers, disaster recovery, IP telephony, unified communications (Internet, phone and data) and contact centers. The Company's services are currently deployed in four continents and 15 countries, to more than 1,300 commercial business accounts with more than 100,000 users, licensed seats and managed end points. In contrast to the legacy, on-premise model in which an organization continually needs to re-invest in its own infrastructure, Evolve IP efficiently migrates organizations to the cloud – freeing up IT resources, eliminating capital expenditures and lowering total cost of ownership.

Evolve IP's continuous innovation, breadth of services and commitment to customer service has resulted in a consistent track record of growth. Evolve IP has been recognized by industry experts for its best-in-class offerings, innovation, customer satisfaction and track record of growth. Recent accolades include: named to Deloitte's 2015 Technology Fast 500 as one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America; named one of the "Best Entrepreneurial Companies in America" by Entrepreneur360; named 2015 Inc. 5000 and 2012 Inc. 500 Honoree; and named to "Philly's Coolest Companies 2015" by BizPhilly. In addition, the Company is a leader among cloud service providers with The Compliance Cloud™ -- providing compliance for government (ITAR) / FedRAMP and healthcare (HIPAA) -- and featuring vendor certifications, including: Cisco CMSP Master certifications for IaaS, DRaaS and DaaS; SSAE 16 (SOC II); EMC CSP; VMware VSPP with IaaS and DaaS badges; Microsoft CSP, Mobility and SCA; and Polycom's Platinum Provider Program.

"Since our founding, Evolve IP has grown into a top-tier cloud services provider that has brought more than 100,000 users into the cloud," said Thomas J. Gravina, Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Evolve IP. "With this investment, we will have the opportunity to accelerate our growth, organically and via acquisitions, much more quickly than we could have as a closely held company. Our priorities will be to provide new and existing customers with a wider range of cloud-based solutions, services and functionality to enable them to meet their business goals effectively and affordably. We will also invest in our growth by expanding into new markets and verticals and enhancing our capabilities across functional departments, including sales, marketing, engineering and support.  This is an exciting moment for Evolve IP, and a testament to the hard work and dedication of our associates."  

"Today's announcement marks a major milestone on our journey as we build Evolve IP into a global cloud services leader," said Michael A. Peterson, Vice Chairman and Co-Founder of Evolve IP.  "Evolve IP started with the development of an idea, and grew into an industry-leading cloud services provider. Evolve begins its next chapter with a significant investment from Great Hill Partners, which is well-aligned with our vision, has a deep understanding of our business and industry, and appreciates and respects our culture. With this transaction, Evolve IP will have the resources available to take the Company to a new level, enabling us to scale the enterprise significantly through both organic growth and substantial acquisition capital. We look forward to working with Great Hill to compound the initial success of Evolve IP to take full advantage of the cloud communications opportunity." 

Since its inception, Great Hill Partners has been committed to providing private equity to finance the expansion, recapitalization or acquisition of growth companies in a wide range of sectors including software, financial and healthcare technology, digital media, eCommerce and internet infrastructure. Based in Boston, MA and with more than 50 portfolio companies and 100 consolidating acquisitions, Great Hill Partners' team of private equity experts has a proven track record of guiding middle-market companies toward their growth and success targets.

"Just a decade ago, 'the cloud' was a nascent industry, but it has now grown to become one of the fastest growing technology sectors. Organizations around the world are making the transition to the cloud at an ever increasing rate, and the support and services provided by Evolve IP make it a clear leader in the space," said Christopher S. Gaffney, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Great Hill Partners. "Tom, Michael and the entire Evolve IP team have helped to shape the rapidly evolving cloud services industry with a proven business model, best-in-breed customer service, and commitment to innovation. We are excited to work closely with the team as they continue to expand their capabilities and suite of cloud services through organic growth. In addition, we have reserved and arranged more than $100 million of additional equity and debt capital for a substantial acquisition strategy, to leverage Evolve IP's leading position in the industry."

PJT Partners served as financial advisor and Cozen O'Connor and Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz served as legal advisors to Evolve IP. Choate Hall & Stewart served as legal advisor to Great Hill Partners.

About Evolve IP
Evolve IP is The Cloud Services Company™. Designed from the beginning to provide organizations with a unified option for cloud services, Evolve IP enables decision-makers to migrate all or select IT technologies to its award-winning cloud platform. Evolve IP's combination of security, stability, scalability, and lower total cost of ownership is fundamentally superior to outdated legacy systems and other cloud offerings. Today the company's services, including virtual servers, virtual desktops, disaster recovery, unified communications, contact centers and more are deployed globally by more than 100,000 corporate users. Visit www.EvolveIP.net for more information.

About Great Hill Partners
Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm that has raised $3.8 billion to finance the expansion, recapitalization, or acquisition of companies in a wide range of sectors in business-to-business and business-to-consumer industries including software, financial and healthcare technology, digital media, eCommerce, and internet infrastructure. Great Hill targets investments of $25 million to $150 million. For more information, please visit www.greathillpartners.com.

Contacts
Joele Frank Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
Jonathan Keehner / Ed Trissel / Mahmoud Siddig
212-355-4449

Evolve IP
Don Mennig
610-964-8000

SOURCE Evolve IP

Related Links

http://www.evolveip.net