Crayon Group reaches investment agreement with UK cloud managed services provider, Cloud Direct

BATH, England, Sept. 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Crayon Group Holding ASA (OSE: "CRAYON") today announced it has reached an investment agreement with Cloud Direct, a UK-based cloud managed services provider.

Under the agreement, Crayon has made a GBP 3 million investment for a minority ownership in Cloud Direct and it establishes a commercial partnership. Crayon also will have the option later to further invest in a majority ownership of that company.

"We are excited about this agreement as it combines the best of both Crayon and Cloud Direct," said Crayon CEO Melissa Mulholland. "We both have the global elite status of being a Microsoft Azure Expert MSP and Crayon's customer-centric approach to cost optimization complements Cloud Direct's managed services capabilities."

The companies have agreed to not disclose any further details on the transaction at this stage.

This collaboration strengthens Crayon's managed services, creating an end-to-end public cloud infrastructure and economics offering. Crayon's strategic investment increases its ability to leverage deep expertise in Microsoft technologies, meaning more customers will be able to take advantage of the benefits of the cloud.

Initially, this agreement will largely focus on operations in the UK, where most of Cloud Direct's customers are located. However, it can easily scale to customers worldwide as it has delivered more than 4,000 cloud migrations.

"Cloud Direct builds and operates Microsoft public cloud solutions that work - ensuring cost optimization, technical performance, and security compliance," said Cloud Direct CEO Brett Raynes. "We focus our professional and managed services on helping ambitious companies accelerate transformation and growth. Working with Crayon, we will drive more value to more customers."

Cloud Direct is one of the leading Microsoft partners in the UK and has annual revenues of GBP 20 million, which is 82% recurring revenue. It was founded in 2003 and has 165 employees.

Notes to Editor:
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