Blue Mantis Acquires Three Vermont MSPs, Adds Telecom, Network Muscle In Northeast Expansion

'This was a great opportunity for geographic expansion in an under-served market and to deepen our bench in key categories,' says Blue Mantis CEO Josh Dinneen.

Blue Mantis, a fast-growing next generation SP500 powerhouse, is adding more managed services muscle to its arsenal and expanding its Northeast footprint with the acquisition of three superstar Vermont MSPs that had already formed tight go to market sales relationships with each other.

The three Vermont-headquartered MSPs – TELigence Partners, a 19-year-old Shelburne, Vermont telecom and carrier services advisory focused MSP; Calkins Networks, a 12-year old Shelburne, Vermont networking MSP; and Brevin Systems, a Ferrisburgh, Ver – pack a big services punch with about 70 percent of their sales coming from recurring revenue services. Terms of the three acquisitions, which add about 200 new customers to Blue Mantis, No. 148 on the 2024 CRN SP500, were not disclosed.

Blue Mantis CEO Josh Dinneen said the three “tightly integrated” companies provide Blue Mantis with additional carrier services, networking, cybersecurity and managed services talent. In fact, he said, 90 percent of the employees from the three companies are customer-facing tech talent.

“This was a great opportunity for geographic expansion in an under-served market and to deepen our bench in key categories,” he said. “These three companies complement each other nicely so they were able to go to customers together and deliver a full business outcome-based services approach, modernizing IT environments and then managing those environments as needed…We don’t have folks in the region so this is a tremendous opportunity to get a great team that can deliver and expand our core services into that market.”

All three of the MSPs are bootstrapped technology solutions leaders in their own right with an “entrepreneurial” drive and an “extremely strong work ethic” that has won them a loyal following of customers, said Dinneen.

The founders, technical masterminds and driving forces behind all three companies – TELigence founder and President John King, Calkins Networks founder and President Derrick Calkins and Brevin Systems founder and security architect Dan Brisson – and all their team members will continue to play a prominent role, joining Blue Mantis in services and sales roles.

“We’re really lucky to have the opportunity to bring the three of them and their teams on board,” Dinneen said. “Strong leadership is really important to us as we scale. We’re looking to invest in that area. So this will be a beachhead for us. We’ll cover the waterfront with the current team but we’ll continue to invest and build out that team as we continue to grow market share in that region.”

Dinneen said the genesis of the triple threat acquisition started with conversations with TELigence founder King, who he has known for 25 years, as a standout telecom advisory services consultant.

“I have always respected John as a thought leader in the telecom market who is very well regarded,” he said. “We’ve always looked at that Vermont – upstate New York corridor as an opportunity for expansion. When I spoke to John he introduced us to the other two companies.”

Dinneen said he is looking forward to the three additions having a big impact in the “underserved” Vermont and upstate New York market. “That whole corridor is significantly underserved from an IT perspective,” he said. “We hear that feedback from customers that we do business up there all the time.”

Blue Mantis’ strategic relationship with distribution powerhouse Ingram Micro- which has a large Buffalo, New York presence- will be key to the geographic expansion in the Northeast corridor, said Dinneen. “Ingram Micro brings a lot of value to our business,” he said. “We are going to continue to bolster that relationship and look for opportunities to enhance the team we currently have.”

Dinneen said the cultural fit with Blue Mantis was a critical factor in the three acquisitions. “Everything about these acquisitions is aligned with our overall strategy and complements our business,” he said. “The cultural fit is tremendous. They are very like-minded, customer-centric, team oriented and collaborative companies.”

With the additional services that Blue Mantis brings on its own to the 200 newly acquired customers and the opportunity to break into new accounts there is a big “cross-sell” and “upsell” in that market with additional cybersecurity services and data enablement, said Dinneen.

Blue Mantis brings all of the customers from the three companies a much larger portfolio and deeper bench aimed at accelerating “competitive advantage” with IT solutions, he said.

The three deals come with Blue Mantis on a fast growth path, fueled by New York private equity company Recognize, which took a majority stake in the company last September.

Since Dinneen took the helm as CEO in January 2024, Blue Mantis has acquired five companies with robust recurring services revenue as part of its fast growth strategy, fueled by New York private equity company Recognize, which took a majority stake in Blue Mantis last September.

“We purposely shifted our strategy to start leaning into a little bit more inorganic growth with acquisitions to help complement, support and drive our capabilities and geographic expansion,” said Dinneen.

To that point, Dinneen said Blue Mantis is currently evaluating a number of opportunities to expand geographically. “There will likely be a couple of more acquisitions this year,” he said.

“We have proven we can take on these companies without any material challenges,” he said. “We have been able to integrate them and their customers. We are already seeing from past acquisitions tremendous amount of (sales) pipeline around cross-sell and up-sell.”

Dinneen said he continues to see a strong sales pipeline and bookings for 2025. “We’ve seen for a few quarters in a row of solid bookings across all our business lines,” he said. “Our pipeline continues to grow.”