It’s Official: Kaseya Completes Datto Acquisition

‘It’s going to be Datto, A Kaseya Company, just like every other deal we’ve done. We’re keeping the brand, keeping the culture,’ Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola tells CRN.

It’s officially official. The $6.2 billion blockbuster acquisition of Datto by rival Kaseya closed Thursday, and many of the people and all of the products are coming along in the deal.

With Norwalk, Conn.-based Datto under its belt, Kaseya knocks rival ConnectWise out of the top software vendor spot.

“It [ticks] me off because our competition is out there spreading FUD—fear, uncertainty and doubt—saying, ‘Oh, everything about Datto is going to go away,’” Fred Voccola, Kaseya CEO, told CRN. “That’s stupid. ... And when they say that, they’re just trying to take advantage of the fact that we couldn’t come out and say the truth because Datto is a public company. Now we can. Those are facts. Hold me accountable.”

The transaction was a sale from Vista Equity Partners, which owned 69 percent of Datto prior to its sale to Miami-based Kaseya. The acquisition was funded by an equity consortium led by Insight Partners, with investments from TPG, Temasek and Sixth Street, according to a news release.

Datto provides a range of tools targeting how MSPs run their business and support customers. The company is known in the investor community for its 2020 IPO, giving it a high profile in an industry known as a stronghold of privately held businesses.

[Related: Kaseya CEO Fred Voccola: SMB IT Experts In ‘The Right Place At The Right Time’]

“Datto has amazing products. Datto is known for having great technology,” Voccola said. “Their networking portfolio is amazing. It’s a fraction of the cost of things from Cisco and other folks. It wasn’t a big focal point of Datto. Their switches, their routers, their access points. It wasn’t a focal point. We’re going to make it a focal point. That’s great technology they have.”

Tim Weller Out, Ryan Weeks And Rob Rae Stay

When the deal was announced in April, there was much speculation of what would happen to Datto leaders like CEO Tim Weller, Chief Information Security Officer Ryan Weeks and Senior Vice President of Business Development Rob Rae. Weeks and Rae are staying on. Weller is moving on.

“Tim will be moving on,” Voccola said. “He’s got other things he wants to do. He’s a CEO. And when I say ‘moving on,’ I want to be very clear. Tim and I will be in constant communication. Tim’s going to help me understand everything about Datto. He’s making himself available. He‘s done an amazing job as a steward of the company.”

Voccola said he tried to hire Rae for the last six years but couldn’t get him to come to Kaseya.

“It took us buying Datto to get Rob Rae to be an employee,” he said.

All of Datto’s products will be integrated and some will even be offered at a lower rate, retention bonuses will be given out and there will be zero layoffs. In fact, Kaseya plans to hire 1,000 more account managers over the next seven months.

“Every tool that’s available is in place to make sure our second-most important asset we have, our people, are there to take care of the most important asset we have, which is our customers,” Voccola said. “So retaining key employees is a huge, huge aspect of this transaction, particularly people who interact with customers and deliver the world-class customer service that Datto has been known for.”