Creative ITC has launched a US HQ because it couldn’t afford to “hang around” for a “magic” acquisition target to materialise, its CEO has said.
The London-based private cloud provider plans to double US headcount to 30 by the end 2026 after opening the Houston office.
Talking to IT Channel Oxygen, CEO Keith Ali said the move was prompted by rising demand from US architectural and energy clients for its high-performance private cloud services.
“This is a full-blown ‘Creative goes to the US’,” he said.
“We’re doing it ourselves”
Ranking 143rd in Oxygen 250 2026, Creative ITC has been on the hunt for UK and US acquisitions since snaring investment from LDC in July 2024.
The Houston office – which represents a £1m-£1.5m investment – has not dampened its acquisitive desires, Ali stressed.
“Because we’re quite a high-margin business – our GP margin is around 70% – we’re not prepared to bring in a weaker-margin business that’s going to degrade that,” he said.
“We’ve been looking for solid businesses that want to go on a journey, and that have a good management team – but we’ve struggled to find them.
“The opportunities are so vast in the US, and we’re getting so much traction there, we can’t wait to find the right US acquisition.
“We’re missing opportunities if we’re just hanging around waiting for that magic acquisition target that has all the attributes we’re looking for.
“So we’re doing it ourselves. And, in parallel, hopefully in the next 12-18 months we’ll find someone that can bolt on or be quite a substantial acquisition as well.”
“Quite generic” US peers
Creative ITC’s multi-region infrastructure platform spans North America, Europe, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.
It last year moved the majority of its services from VMware to Nutanix, Ali said.
Having evolved from a VAR to an MSP, and finally into a CSP, Creative ITC generates around 95% of its revenues from private cloud and 5% from product resale, Ali indicated.
This means the threat of hardware price increases – including the rising spectre of those made post-purchase order – doesn’t impact it in the same way as most VARs.
“We don’t have to wait for new kit, because we’ll have some capacity – but you’ve still got to top up the capacity so that you’re always ahead of the game,” Ali explained.
But does the US really need another private cloud contender?
Creative ITC’s US peers tend to be “quite generic” and lack vertical specialisation, Ali responded.
“We’ve started seeing a lot of inbound coming in from US-based companies that have said, ‘you guys have a reputation for the industry you operate in,” he said.
“We operate in that high-GPU, performance-led private cloud requirement. That’s our brand. That’s why we provide services to architectural, engineering and energy-type companies, who use demanding applications that don’t really fit well into generic cloud solutions.
“Coupled with that, some of the brands we operate with, like WSP – who are the largest engineering firm in the world – give us a lot of credibility.”
Doug Woodburn is editor of IT Channel Oxygen
