Datto Completes Private Equity Merger With Autotask, Creating A Managed Services Powerhouse

IT service management vendor Autotask and data protection specialist Datto finalized their merger Monday, six weeks after the massive deal was first announced. Datto was simultaneously acquired by private equity firm Vista Equity Partners, which acquired Autotask in 2014, as part of the agreement.

By coming together, Datto and Autotask create a managed services powerhouse that can provide more than 13,000 MSP channel partners with PSA, RMM, backup and disaster recovery solutions. The combined company will be led by Datto CEO Austin McChord and – in just-announced additions to the senior leadership team – will include Autotask Vice President of Product Management Patrick Burns and Senior Vice President of Engineering Adam Stewart.

"We are now better positioned than ever to be the optimal choice," McChord said in a statement. "The positive feedback we continue to receive from our MSP community regarding our partnership with Vista, along with our successful merger with Autotask, only strengthens our ability to innovate, execute and deliver on our shared vision."

[Related: Datto and Autotask Officially Will Merge ]

Perhaps most notably, the combined company said it will be retaining the Datto brand "as the go-to provider of data protection and IT management solutions." Datto and Autotask employ about 1,300 in total, and their channel partners provide managed services to more than 500,000 SMBs.

"We are both bringing complementary tools, complementary customers, and complementary geographies together," Burns told CRN. "The MSP business is a massive market. And this is Vista recognizing the market's growth."

Both vendors are privately held, meaning no financial details of the transaction were provided.

McChord has been with Datto since founding the company more than a decade ago. Mark Cattini, who has served as CEO of East Greenbush, N.Y.-based Autotask since December 2010, will transition to being a strategic adviser to the combined company's board of directors.

Over the past year, Datto has enjoyed a 30 percent year-over-year increase in total MSP partners, the company said, while opening two new offices in the U.S. and Europe. The company also acquired cloud-based networking vendor Open Mesh in 2016.

Partners who spoke with CRN reacted favorably to the merger, calling the opportunity to combine Datto's rich backup offering with Autotask's RMM suite appealing and a potential time-saver for MSPs.

"Datto is a really, really strong player in that backup space," Micah Thor, president of Minneapolis-based MSP Tech Guru, said. "It makes a lot of sense for these vendors to consolidate."