Private equity firm acquires in-demand Tampa telecom company

Thompson Street Capital Partners has acquired SkySwitch, a Tampa company that provides voice-over-Internet-protocol (VOIP) solutions for businesses. 

According to company spokeswoman Paula Como Kauth, SkySwitch will retain its name and branding but operate as a subsidiary of BCM One, a New York-based managed technology solutions provider that was founded in 1992 and has more than 17,000 customers around the world. BCM One was acquired by Thompson Street in 2019. 

SkySwitch’s offering consists of “white label” VOIP solutions that allow channel partners and managed service providers to market and sell next-generation communication services as if they were proprietary products. It currently serves more than 500 channel partners and MSPs, according to a press release. 

“They put their own name on it and brand it with their own brand,” Kauth said, adding that the acquisition “fills a gap” in BCM One’s product portfolio. Timing also played a role, she added, as demand for VOIP services surges because of the coronavirus pandemic. “It worked perfectly with the rise of COVID and working from home,” Kauth said.

SkySwitch’s executive team, led by Blake McKeeby, Corey Stoker, Frank Babusik, William Brister and Jayson Jones, will remain with the company, the release states, and the office — representing BCM One’s fifth location — will remain in Tampa. Kauth adds that BCM One doesn’t like to disrupt anything when it buys a company. 

“There won’t be any major changes,” she said. “They key leaders are staying on. We look at strategic acquisitions as a whole. With SkySwitch, everything aligned … their organizational culture lined up with us.” 

The acquisition closed on Dec. 21. Other terms of the deal, including cost of acquisition, were not disclosed.