Phil Doye says he is poised to invest further in the channel, whether via boxxe or in a personal capacity.
Public sector-focused reseller boxxe today announced it has snapped up corporate-leaning peer Total Computers in a deal that will propel its revenue runrate to north of £600m.
The move comes 14 months after Doye took a minority stake in Kettering-based Total. While boxxe ranked 12th in IT Channel Oxygen’s Oxygen 250 report, Total placed 56th.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, boxxe CEO Doye emphasised that he plans to continue ploughing the proceeds from his 2015 sale of Kelway to CDW into the channel.
“Going forward, you may well see both boxxe, and me personally, making more full acquisitions or investments into businesses in the channel,” he confirmed.
‘Nothing is better than this industry’
Doye currently invests directly in around 15-20 firms, including not only boxxe and US IT solutions provider Ahead Group, but also fintech unicorns Revolut and Klarna (“for my sins, I’m quite a big fan of crypto”). He also holds indirect investments in numerous companies via about 40 private equity funds.
But Doye said he is eager to put more of his money into a market he both understands and feels is poised for continued growth.
“If I think of all the investments I have, there are things that ultimately might grow faster or have a higher multiple. But when it comes to the ability grow businesses, get a dynamic market, get a growing addressable market, there is nothing better than this industry,” Doye said.
“What are the number one, two and three spend lines of every organisation in the world? It will be people-buildings-IT or IT-people-buildings, or buildings-IT-people etc. What businesses like us sell will either be number one, two or three.
“This is why when you look at the multiples, Insight and CDW are at record highs. Softcat in the UK may have fallen back a bit, but I think by general consensus they were overvalued in the first place and their share price decline is less about the health or future prospects of their business and more about being judged by a more sensible multiple.
“It’s just a great place to have a business.”
‘My days of investing in fishing apps are over’
Doye emphasised that he is keen to invest in the channel both privately and through boxxe, drawing an analogy with Rigby Technology Investments and SCC. The former is currently carrying out a buy-and-build separately from SCC with ‘CloudClevr’, which recently made its third acquisition in the shape of Bamboo.
“Rigby Group [have] CloudClevr, because they like the channel,” Doye said.
“I’m very bullish on the channel. So you’re likely to see more investments, either through boxxe, or directly by me personally.
“My investment thesis has evolved a lot since selling Kelway and is now more focused on building a small but significant portfolio of channel investments alongside a managed portfolio or public market equities and private equity funds.
“The days of me rifle shooting private companies investments operating in areas like fishing apps and vertical farms for the home are thankfully behind me.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
