Symbio acquires Intrado Australia’s UCaaS business

Australian cloud communications provider Symbio has acquired Intrado Australia’s Cisco-focused cloud calling, contact centre and collaboration business to expand its footprint in the unified communications as a service (UCaaS) market.

The A$5m all-cash deal was completed on 31 January 2023, and would add 60,000 users to Symbio’s UCaaS division via existing partners and direct customers. The move is expected to deepen the company’s reach in enterprises and consolidate its position in a fast-growing market.

Intrado Australia is a subsidiary of West Technology Group, a cloud-based global technology business formerly known as Intrado Corporation. Symbio anticipates the acquisition would add about A$12.5m of annual recurring revenue and contribute over A$6m in annual recurring gross margin.

In its current form, the deal would enable Symbio to access Cisco-hosted services with a customer base comprising more than 60 mid-to-large enterprises, as well as state and federal government entities in Australia.

Symbio will also gain more than 20 specialised, sales and technical employees based in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth, along with new channel partner relationships that build on Symbio’s partner support capabilities.

“Acquiring these unified communications customers aligns with our strategy to grow market share and continue to build new partner channels in our home market, as well as the strategic direction of our UCaaS business,” said Symbio CEO and co-founder Rene Sugo.

“It also contributes to our vision of having 100 million numbers on our network by 2030. Our strong balance sheet allows us to fund this acquisition as an all-cash consideration.”

Iain Falshaw, CEO of Symbio’s UCaaS division, added: “This acquisition is significant for the UCaaS division. The additional 60,000 seats we are set to acquire doubles the size of the existing business, which helps us to build our critical mass quickly and build scale efficiently through an enhanced partner channel.

“In a competitive talent environment, we are also pleased that as part of the deal, over 20 employees in highly specialised sales and technical roles will immediately join the Symbio team, and we are looking forward to having them on-board.”

Denise Lund, IDC’s research director of worldwide telecom and unified communications, said UCaaS service providers are taking timely and strategic steps to capture the growth opportunity in the global market for cloud-based unified communications.

“Every business is considering exactly how best to improve its employee and customer experiences, and this translates to growth for UCaaS service providers with compelling value propositions and go-to-market approaches,” she said.