Thrive, a managed services platform for corporate IT services, has acquired Miami-based IT support company Preemo. This acquisition marks Thrive’s foray into South Florida.
Preemo currently serves more than 200 businesses across all industries, with specialisms in the legal and private equity spaces. Most of Preemo’s clients are small and medium sized businesses – a large target market considering Miami’s place as a microbusiness hub. These clients include some major names on the local tech scene.
Since 2009, Preemo has been a fixture in the Miami tech community, having grown more than 30% annually over the last few years leading up to the acquisition. Their growth has been recognized by a variety of major outlets and awards, including the South Florida Business Journal’s Fast 50 and Top 25.
“Over the past 13 years, Preemo has grown into a leader in the Southeast Florida market, delivering comprehensive managed IT services, public and private cloud, and cybersecurity solutions,” Ivan Mladenovic, CEO of Preemo, commented in a statement.
Mladenovic will continue working with Thrive. “I’m excited to lead Thrive’s expansion in Florida, along with serving as an advisor for M&A opportunities and marketing strategy,” he said in a post on LinkedIn.
Up to now, Preemo has focused on the Miami market. This year, they are expanding northward to Broward and Palm Beach.
“Now, under Thrive’s umbrella, we will expand both our service offering and our geographic footprint, to deliver a one-of-a-kind experience for our clients in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and West Palm Beach,” Mladenovic continued. “We’re thrilled about this new partnership and look forward to our strategic growth this year and beyond.”
In a statement, Rob Stephenson, CEO of Thrive, signaled his excitement to get involved in the recent South Florida business boom.
“Preemo has a tremendous reputation built upon a customer-centric focus and premier IT support,” Stephenson noted. “Thrive has a large number of customers in the Northeast United States moving or expanding to South Florida that will benefit from Preemo’s team of exceptional technologists. Their clients will benefit from Thrive’s 24x7x365 SOC, cybersecurity practice, and digital transformation products and services.”
Preemo’s core business revolves around IT, cloud, and cybersecurity. They help clients get the most out of some of the most ubiquitous – but often difficult to wrangle – platforms like Office365, G-Suite, Azure, and AWS.
The pandemic has proven that maintaining a solid IT infrastructure is mission critical for businesses of all shapes and sizes. IT spending ranges from about 2% in retail and manufacturing to upwards of 11% in the financial services sector.
Equally, the opportunity for IT services in Florida has never been greater. Over the last decade, Florida’s population grew by about 15% – a figure which has only accelerated since the onset of the pandemic. From the perspective of startups, the story is even more compelling: last year, a record-smashing $4.63 billion flowed into South Florida companies.
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