Upstack Adds To Its Agent Arsenal With Acquisitions Of DVP Technologies, Subsidium Technologies

‘It’s a beautiful thing when you invest in highly influential business owners,’ Upstack founder and CEO Chris Trapp tells CRN. ‘They attract other highly influential business owners as well. We have benefitted greatly from that and I think this year is going to be more successful than last year. And I think 2023 will be more successful than 2022.’

Upstack, which has acquired 18 companies over the last 18 months, has added two more of the best and brightest agents to its arsenal with the acquisitions of DVP Technologies and Subsidium Technologies.

The two acquisitions bring the number of deals that Upstack has closed in just the last eight weeks to five. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed.

Upstack, already the largest agent in the world, is building an agent behemoth that is creating unprecedented economies of scale in the fragmented, intensely competitive agent business.

In an interview with CRN, Upstack founder and CEO Chris Trapp said he’s just getting going with his plan to create a global agent behemoth by acquiring more and more of the best and brightest agents.

“While we are the largest (agent) today we are still a small business,” said Trapp. “We’re proud of that. We are excited about the opportunity. We’ve got a long way to go to be in the Fortune 500. I think we can get there. That won’t happen overnight. But I think we will get there over the next 10 years.”

The acquisition of Connecticut based DVP Technologies and Clifton New York based Subsidium Technologies adds four more seasoned agent entrepreneurs to the Upstack team.

DVP Technologies – a 22-year-old telecom stalwart that provides networking, data and cloud solutions to a number of Wall Street businesses, said it was courted by four investors but chose the Upstack deal.

In a press release, DVP Co-founder and Managing Partner Michael Rafferty said the most important factor in the deal was the instant economies of scale that Upstack brings to drive growth. “Being part of Upstack opens up a whole new suite of products and services that our customers can source,” said Rafferty.

DVP Co-founder and Managing Partner Thomas Luciano, meanwhile, singled out the Upstack’s technology platform that automates the consumption of critical cloud and telecom products.

Both Rafferty and Luciano will join Upstack as partners and managing directors. DVP Director of Operations Eric Nygard also will join Upstack.

Subsidium, a 20-year telecom powerhouse, specializes in communications, cloud and collaboration solutions.

Subsidium cofounder and CEO John Bova and co-founder and COO Ed Degenhart will also join Upstack as partners and managing partners.

In a press release, Bova said Subsidium and Upstack have a “shared vision of exemplary service and continued growth.” He complimented Upstack for what he called its “nationally known reputation.”

Trapp, for his part, said that while Upstack has a great platform, great technology and robust support offering for customers the secret sauce is the seasoned agent entrepreneurs that it has brought on board.

“At the end of the day, the secret sauce is the people,” he told CRN. “It‘s the culture. If you’ve got (one time Chicago Bulls NBA superstars) Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman all on the team and you are sitting on the bench with those guys that’s exciting! It’s a combination of not only the top producing agents in the industry, but the best damn people in the industry.”

Upstack is set to double in size in 2022 as it continues its acquisition binge, said Trapp.

“I don’t know the number of acquisitions we’ll do this year, but I can tell you in terms of scale we should double what we did last year in terms of revenue contribution (in 2022),” he said.

Trapp, who built several successful colocation providers before founding Upstack in 2017, said he is focused on continuing to build out the Upstack team with additional deals.

“This year is going to be bigger than last year in terms of where we are tracking all of our opportunities and the momentum we have,” he said. “It’s a beautiful thing when you invest in highly influential business owners. They attract other highly influential business owners as well. We have benefitted greatly from that and I think this year is going to be more successful than last year. And I think 2023 will be more successful than 2022.”