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Australia's largest telco Telstra (ASX: TLS) is upping its digital expertise with the $267.5 million acquisition of Melbourne-based technology consultancy Versent, which was founded by former National Australia Bank (ASX: NAB) colleagues Thor Essman and James Coxon in 2014.
Currently owned by a mix of its founders, investors and employees, Versent earned its market-leading reputation through its award-winning Amazon Web Services (AWS) capability and deep-domain expertise across cloud, security, data, digital, and identity and access management.
The acquisition also includes Versent subsidiary Stax, which provides a self-serve cloud management platform for enterprise and mid-market customers, enabling them to design, build and run their own cloud.
With $130 million in net revenue in FY23 and a team of more than 500 experts who work with over 40 per cent of ASX100 companies, Versent is expected to help the buyer scale its Telstra Purple tech services business and grow its levels of Network Attached Storage (NAS).
Versent's services are supported by offices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Singapore and Denver.
Telstra Enterprise group executive David Burns says the acquisition supports Telstra's T25 growth strategy, and commitment to support the digital ambitions of Australia's biggest industries.
"Since launching our Telstra Purple technology services business four years ago, we've seen growing demand for technology solutions – particularly in cyber security and cloud-led transformation – as enterprises, governments and whole industries continue to digitise their operations," says Burns.
"Through the combination of our global partnerships, breadth of our networks and technology, and strength of our deep-domain experts, we have never been better set up to deliver secure, large-scale transformation through technology.
"Versent will bring additional depth to our strong team of experts, help our enterprise customers maximise their investment in cloud-led transformations, and help us meet the growing demand for these specialised services."
The latest deal, due for completion within six weeks, builds on previous acquisitions, most recently of Alliance Automation and Aqura Technologies.
"We see strong synergies between Versent and Telstra Purple in our customer base, our strategic partners, our team cultures and the way we tackle customer problems with technology solutions," adds Burns.
"And like Telstra Purple, Versent also has an international presence, particularly in south-east Asia, which provides significant potential to grow sales of international and Australia-out digital transformation services.
"We're excited by the growth potential this acquisition provides – it will further differentiate Telstra in the market and bolster our capabilities so that we can be the end-to-end technology partner our customers need now and in the future."
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