Channel investors, Content, MSSP

MSSP Acquired: Achieve Partners Buys Cybersecurity Service Provider Metmox

Digital transformation investor Achieve Partners has acquired Metmox, a Top 250 MSSP that supports Fortune 500 companies. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

This is technology M&A deal number 548 that MSSP Alert and sister site ChannelE2E have covered so far in 2021.

Achieve Partners Acquires Metmox: MSSP and Investor Details

Metmox, based in Schaumburg, Illinois, has roughly 200 employees, the company tells MSSP Alert.

The MSSP offers such cybersecurity services as:

  • Fully and co-managed Security Operations Center as a Service (SOCaaS)
  • Managed network services
  • Governance, risk and compliance services
  • Build-to-suit and professional services.

Achieve Partners, meanwhile, is not your typical private equity investment firm. To wit, Achieve Partners sees the Metmox acquisition as a way to mentor and train more cybersecurity professions. Specifically, Achieve Partners plans to "lead the development of a large-scale cybersecurity apprenticeship program that will prepare entry-level talent to succeed in cybersecurity careers with apprentices transitioning to full-time roles with Metmox and its clients."

The cyber mentoring strategy aligns with Achieve Partners' overall investment mission statement, which reads:

"Achieve Partners is engineering the future of learning and earning by investing in cutting edge technologies and novel business models to bolster skill development and secure the future of work for millions of Americans. By harnessing digital transformation to build new models for learning and new pathways to good jobs, Achieve is helping to level the playing field, improve socioeconomic mobility, and rekindle the American Dream."

Investors, MSSPs and Cybersecurity Talent Development

In a prepared statement about the deal, Metmox CEO Srikanth Parepally said:

"While cyber threats are growing in number and sophistication amid increasing levels of remote work and cloud adaption, the global security workforce is struggling to keep up. Achieve's acquisition of Metmox is about building new pipelines of talent that can help America's most important businesses keep hackers at bay, and solve one of the most urgent challenges facing the future of business and society."

Added Ira Goldstein, Metmox board chairman:

"As the world of work becomes increasingly remote and the digital transformation of the labor market accelerates, the need for cybersecurity solutions has never been greater. We're creating a faster, cheaper pathway to help fill the millions of open cybersecurity positions worldwide while also enabling employers to tap new talent pools to meet one of their most critical needs."

Concluded Aanand Radia, managing director at Achieve Partners:

"The cybersecurity infrastructure of businesses and governments alike will remain vulnerable until we're able to train the workers who can act as our first line of defense. In partnership with Metmox, we're helping the country's largest employers close a widening talent gap, in order to better protect the complex systems that keep the economy – and society – functioning."

Achieve Partners has experience in the IT services market. The company's investment portfolio includes Optimum Healthcare IT, which specializes in IT staffing, consulting and EHR (electronic health records) services for in the healthcare vertical market.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.