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September 17, 2021ADNET Technologies Partners with New Charter Technologies, Joining National IT Services Platform to Fuel Growth
ADNET Technologies announced it has entered into a strategic partnership agreement with New Charter Technologies, a portfolio company of Palo Alto-based private equity firm Oval Partners. ADNET and its recently launched cybersecurity firm MachBlue Defense have joined New Charter Technologies’ national Managed Service Provider (MSP) platform, while continuing to operate independently from their office locations in the Greater Hartford, Connecticut Region and New York’s Capital Region.
New Charter’s partnership model empowers companies to guide their own growth, while offering access to capital, resources and peer collaboration with other high-performing MSPs across North America.
“This strategic partnership will fuel our ongoing evolution and accelerate our talent-led growth in the Northeast and beyond,” said ADNET Technologies CEO Christopher Luise. “Our employees are the reason for our company’s consistent success, so we were only willing to work with an investment partner that would help us create new opportunities for our team and support our work to build a company culture that retains, attracts and empowers top talent. Joining forces with New Charter is about more than access to capital; it’s about shared values, talent development and industry innovation that will have a tremendous impact for our regional business communities.”
The partnership follows ADNET’s recent investments into its workforce and culture – which has included opening two collaborative workplaces, permanently adopting a work-from-anywhere policy and refreshing its brand identity.
“We’re building a national MSP platform in an entirely new and different way,” said New Charter Technologies CEO Mitch Morgan. “We call it an Equity Partnership. We’ve seen many unsuccessful Private Equity led platforms lose talent and clients who feel cast aside when profits are prioritized above everything else. We take a culture-focused approach and partner with companies that share our mission to improve people’s lives with technology solutions. That’s why we were so impressed with the team at ADNET Technologies. They care deeply about their colleagues, clients and communities – and it translates into high-quality, innovative services that meet the diverse technology needs of the people they serve. They’ll help us take our national platform to the next level.”
“As our team at ADNET takes this next big step as an organization, we believe the national platform we’re joining has the potential to become a movement to fundamentally transform managed IT services into a people-first industry,” Luise added.
New Charter Technologies’ Equity Partnership Model
New Charter’s national roster of MSPs continues to grow, with the addition of ADNET. Its platform now includes 12 MSPs with over 400 employees spread across the continent. New Charter has built its equity partnership model on five key pillars:
- The platform partners with business owners who are not sellers but rather looking for an opportunity to continue what they’re already doing and having a financial partner for further investment.
- The owners are the Leadership team and are collaborating and strategizing in a way that has never been seen in the industry.
- A team of business owners to partner with for the sharing of new ideas and industry best practices to accelerate their business forward.
- The foundation of the model is centered around the idea that the Managed IT industry is a “people-business” requiring a local touch and should not be consolidated in order to build upon success and reach new growth and service delivery levels.
- The partners who make up the New Charter banner are high growth and high margin businesses who share a common set of cultural and business objectives.
ADNET’s Next Chapter, Vision for Growth
ADNET Co-Founders Luise and Edward Laprade will reinvest into New Charter in a single class of shares alongside Oval’s investment, and they will both become partners in the national organization. Luise will remain CEO of ADNET Technologies, and Laprade will take on a new role as Senior Strategic Advisor to ensure the firm’s ongoing evolution proceeds smoothly.
“With our leadership team well prepared to guide us forward, we can continue to move ahead with succession plans Chris and I had started to put in motion,” Laprade said. “Our new partnership with New Charter will require my support in the immediacy, but over time, I’ll gain added flexibility to focus on family and life outside of work. I’m incredibly proud of the company we’ve built and the team we’ve assembled. Together, we have paved the way to achieve the talent-driven growth that’s at the heart of our vision for the future.”
“ADNET Technologies is the 12th high-performing MSP to join New Charter,” said John Knoll, Co-Founder and Managing Director at Oval Partners. “Their team truly takes a people-focused approach to their work. Whether it’s building inspiring workplaces for their employees or collaborating with clients to make their technology more secure and easier to manage, empowering people is a hallmark of ADNET’s culture. They’re a perfect fit for our growing national platform, and we’re excited to help their leaders achieve their vision for growth.”
ADNET employs over 60 people across its company, and it is actively recruiting more IT professionals to join its team. In addition to its flexible work-from-anywhere environment and freshly launched collaborative workplaces, it offers progressive benefits packages, including a 100% covered healthcare option and a Responsible Time Off (RTO) policy that doesn’t limit the amount of time any employee can take off.
