Apptix, a business communication and security solution for mid-market and enterprise customers, cashed a $22.5 million check from GoDaddy for the purchase of their direct public and multi-tenant cloud customer base.
Chris Damvakaris, VP of Sales and Business Development, said that Apptix is moving away from email services and was looking for a longer term solution for their customers who subscribe to their Hosted Exchange platform. Simultaneously, GoDaddy, the world’s largest technology provider dedicated to small business continues to expand their reach to their target market.
“It was really a win-win, GoDaddy wanted to expand its footprint in the small-to-mid-sized marketplace, and we had an attractive set of customers in this category,” Damvakaris said. “For Apptix, we are moving more into the managed services and private cloud business, and felt GoDaddy was in a better position to give them longer term care. Customers affected benefit from GoDaddy’s focus on their market.”
Damvakaris said the majority of their public cloud customer base will move over to GoDaddy’s Microsoft Office 365 offering during the next few months and the “migration is free for those who sign up before October 16, 2015, alongside other special incentives.”
A GoDaddy spokesperson said, “GoDaddy is committed to helping small businesses more effectively run their ventures. With the acquisition of Apptix’s public cloud customer base, we have an opportunity to take customers using Hosted Exchange and bring them over to GoDaddy’s Microsoft Office 365 offering, all the while providing our award winning, 24×7 customer support.”
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GoDaddy has been on an aggressive path to help provide tools for small businesses to get found online and connect with customers. In the last year the company has acquired companies such as Mad Mimi for email marketing and added services such as e-commerce in a box, a one-stop-shop for web developers and more.
From Apptix’s perspective to choose GoDaddy for their customers, Damvakaris said, “It was an easy decision: GoDaddy has a great reputation, is one of Microsoft’s largest Office 365 provider, and they are squarely focused on small and mid-sized businesses and can best understand their unique requirements and desire for ease of use. They will be well taken care of!”
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