Kerridge Commercial Systems (KCS) has announced that inspHire Limited, a subsidiary in Australia has acquired the inspHire software business from its reseller Elev8 Australia Pty Ltd. This is a move that allows InspHire to take control of the relationship with its client base in Australia. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. It is not a huge acquisition cost for inspHire though as Elev8 only has 8 employees according to LinkedIn. Though the company information lists 11-50.
Founded in 2004 Elev8 has resold inspHire for the last 12 years. Existing customers such as Chippendales should see little initial change as the employees appeared to have transferred across to the larger organisation. There is no indication whether the leadership including owner and founder John Marshall, Managing Director will stay with the firm.
Graham Dobbs, CEO of inspHire commented “This is a great opportunity to accelerate our strategy. We look forward to working with customers throughout Australia and Asia to better meet their rental software needs. It’s an exciting time for inspHire to establish itself in Australia and to work closely with our customers locally.”
“I am also delighted to welcome our new Australian colleagues to the Group. They are a very dedicated, knowledgeable and experienced team and a great addition to the inspHire team.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Dobbs also added that the acquisition is part of a wider global strategy by inspHire and by inference KCS. inspHire now has offices in UK, Netherlands, USA as well as Australia. The move will enable it to target larger multinational companies as it creates a uniform presence across the globe. It should also reduce some of the cost of sale. As Elev8 no longer needs to create separately branded marketing materials.
KCS continues its global expansion inexorably. Last year it bought EDP for £12 million and it seems as though the slow mix of organic and inorganic growth continues. The wider question is will this acquisition see KCS itself increase its presence in Australia, or is this just a move by inspHire.
