Data center services, cloud, and Internet infrastructure marketplace UPSTACK has acquired M2 Enterprise Group – a telecommunications consulting firm specializing in unified communications and contact center services. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
UPSTACK, based in New York, N.Y., was founded in 2017 with the goal of revolutionizing the way cloud and Internet infrastructure is sourced and marketed. Data center colocation, network connectivity, SD-WAN, unified communications, cloud contact centers, private and public cloud, security, mobile, business continuity, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are all part of UPSTACK’s service offering.
UPSTACK’s acquisition of M2 is part of the company’s plan to expand its marketplace, which will bring together the industry’s top advisers with innovative technology, support resources, and data.
M2 co-founders Mike Casagrande and Mike Leonardi have joined UPSTACK as partners and equity stakeholders as part of the arrangement. They also serve as advisors to enterprise corporate customers that use the UPSTACK platform to source cloud, data center, network connectivity, and unified communications.
“On behalf of UPSTACK, I am proud to welcome Mike Casagrande and Mike Leonardi to the team,” said Christopher Trapp, CEO of UPSTACK. “Over the last three years we have been watching with admiration as M2 was recognized as Bridgepointe’s fastest growing agency. We’re excited to accelerate M2’s incredible momentum and leverage Mike and Mike’s colocation, unified communications, and contact center expertise as part of the UPSTACK platform.”
About Mike Casagrande
M2’s co-founders teamed up with UPSTACK largely to handle the company’s expansion. M2 had over 350 customers within three years of its launch and was growing at a rate of 100-125 percent each year.
With more than 15 years of advisory experience, Mike Casagrande’s IT and telecom expertise includes UCaaS and CCaaS, global networks, data center and cloud services for midmarket and enterprise organizations. Before co-founding M2 in 2018, Mr. Casagrande was an independent agent at Bridgepointe.
“UPSTACK enables us to offload some of the back-office and account management responsibilities while continuing to grow our business at a fast pace,” said Mike Casagrande. “Plus, we get the opportunity for a liquidity event unlike most agents, who must continue to sell or risk that their commissions will run out.”
About Mike Leonardi
Mr. Leonardi joins UPSTACK with over a decade of experience creating managed services and IT infrastructure businesses. His one-of-a-kind end-to-end experience would make him a valuable consultant to some of the world’s greatest corporations. Prior to co-founding M2 in 2018, Mike Leonardi was an agent for Bridgepointe for three years, regional partner manager for colocation provider Peak 10 + ViaWest and a regional channel manager for UC provider Panterra.
“We knew that because we were growing so fast, we were either going to have to hire or team up to continue to deliver high-touch service to our clients and stave off churn,” said Mike Leonardi. “We considered merging with other agents as a path forward, but ultimately, we chose UPSTACK, which presented an opportunity to enhance the positives of being an agent and relieve the negatives as well.”
