OC Business Journal

Irvine’s Synoptek buys Atlanta’s Macquarium to expand in Southeast

TECH: IT services co. expects 14% revenue boost in ’23

■ By KEVIN COSTELLOE

Irvine-based Synoptek LLC is boosting its presence in the Southeast U.S. market via a key acquisition.

The IT services and consulting firm announced earlier this month it purchased Atlanta-based customer service agency Macquarium for an undisclosed price.

Synoptek CEO Tim Britt said his company has about 300 “material customers” throughout North America and about 40 of them are located in the Southeast U.S., with their headquarters primarily in Georgia and Florida.

Synoptek will increase the staff permanently stationed in Atlanta to help handle the clients.

“We expect to grow the Synoptek team based in Atlanta,” he said, adding that two vice presidents are already based there.

Some of the Southeast customers include KCC Manufacturing, American Wire Group, Durham Housing Authority and Gilbane Building Co.

Britt pointed out that Synoptek already has offices in New York and Chicago, for example, but until now has not had its own office in the Southeast.

“So it does help with our geographic coverage,” Britt told the Business Journal of the new outpost in Georgia.

In addition to the office in Atlanta, Synoptek has nine offices elsewhere in the U.S., two in India and one in Canada. The total number of Synoptek clients of all sorts comes to more than 1,200, according to the company’s website.

The Macquarium purchase is a “smaller yet more strategic acquisition” compared to those Synoptek has made in the past, Britt said.

Synoptek is adding about 30 employees as part of the deal.

Macquarium was founded in 1991 as a business consulting firm with offerings such as website design and e-commerce services. It counts U.S. and international clients including Georgia utility firm Southern Company, railroad Norfolk Southern, Snap-on-Tools, Home Depot, MGM, Equifax, UPS, and Wells Fargo.

Synoptek offers a combination of IT outsourcing, business systems, analytics, cloud computing and cybersecurity services.

The firm had pro forma revenue of $115 million in 2021, on target with company expectations, Britt said. It expects revenue to be closer to $130 million this year with 14% to 15% growth in 2023.

Previous Acquisitions

Synoptek has previously used acquisitions as a market expansion strategy.

In 2014, the firm marked its entry into the Colorado region through its purchase of the managed IT services division of Critigen, an IT services provider based in Denver.

Last year, it expanded that presence in the state through its acquisition of Rapid Technologies in Lone Tree, about 20 miles south of Denver.

In the latest acquisition, Macquarium’s brand will continue under the Synoptek portfolio.

“We brought the entire team over to Synoptek,” Britt said on May 13. “They’ll all stay in place,” with Macquarium operating as a “practice within Synoptek.”

Synoptek beat out several bidders to buy Macquarium, according to local reports citing founder Marc Adler.

“These guys had a holistic approach,” Adler told Georgia outlet SaportaReport. “They were big. And they wanted to keep the team intact. Everything is so complementary. Everyone I met there had been with the company for over a decade.”

1,000 Employees

Synoptek has just under 1,000 employees “plus probably another 100 contractors,” according to Britt.

“In Irvine we have about 60 folks,” he said. He reaffirmed last year’s prediction that Synoptek will hit $250 million to $300 million in revenue over the next four to five years, effectively doubling or even more this year’s expected revenue.

“Yes, we will do that—hopefully more,” he said.

Synoptek plans to hire somewhere between 130 and 150 people this year in North America, and “globally it will probably be more like the 200 to 250 people range,” Britt said. The company had more than three dozen job openings posted on its website as of May 17.

An additional aquisition may well be on tap for 2022.

“We may have one in the summer,” Britt said. ■

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