Sunstone Partners invests in Chicago IT consultancy Cloudbakers
Private equity firm Sunstone Partners has made a significant growth capital investment in Cloudbakers, a Chicago-based IT consultancy focusing on cloud migration. Investment bank Drake Star Partners served as exclusive financial advisor to Cloudbakers on the transaction.
Founded 2010, Cloudbakers supports clients in the healthcare, financial services, technology, media, and public sectors with cloud migration and implementation solutions and services. The firm is a Google Cloud and Zoho Premier Partner.
Cloudbakers has offerings across infrastructure, application, and data modernization, as well as in CRM implementation and collaboration & productivity.
The company has seen solid growth in the last decade, breaching the Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America multiple years in a row. The consultancy was also named one of Crain’s Best Places to Work in Chicago.
Cloudbakers has grown to nearly 100 employees, according to LinkedIn, with offices in Chicago, Denver, and Indianapolis.
Sunstone Partners’ investment in Cloudbakers will allow the firm to grow its Google Cloud technical consulting and managed services business.
Founded in 2015 and based in San Mateo, California, Sunstone Partners provides majority and minority investments to tech-enabled services and software businesses – including cloud, cybersecurity, and healthcare IT firms. Sunstone’s other portfolio companies include Med Tech Solutions, Avertium, and Nexa.
“Drake Star’s expertise in the public cloud services market was critical in finding the right partner for Cloudbakers going forward,” said Mitch Greenwald, Cloudbakers founder and CEO. “The insight and support from Jeff Baker and his team throughout the process helped us successfully navigate through a defining milestone in the Company’s history.”
Drake Star’s advisory team on the transaction consisted of Jeff Baker and Benedikt Gottwald.
“It was a pleasure partnering with Mitch and the Cloudbakers team on achieving this outcome,” said managing partner Jeff Baker. “Together with Sunstone they are well positioned to accelerate their growth and be a leader in the public cloud services market.”
Baker noted that this was Drake Star’s third public cloud transaction this year, and that he expects the high rate of investment in the segment to continue.
Headquartered in London, Drake Star provides M&A advisory, corporate finance, and co-investment services to clients in the technology, media, and communications sectors. The firm has a team of more than 95 professionals across nine offices in Europe and the US.
