Netsurit CEO and co-founder Orrin Klopper is heading to New York as his company eyes expansion prospects in the US market.
"Through our Microsoft partnership, we have been travelling to the US since 2004, and through this we have built up an understanding of the US market and developed some good relationships," he told ITWeb.
Now the technology services company is eyeing business opportunities in the American market and Klopper will move to the US in the next few days to oversee the budding US business.
Klopper says the original plan was to take an organic growth approach to the US market, but while in the process of doing due diligence and investigating the market, the South African firm came across an exciting acquisition opportunity.
"We have signed a letter of intent with a New York-based company and we have an exclusive dealing period, so we are in the midst of drafting agreements and preparing for an acquisition."
The deal is expected to be greenlit by the end of July, with plans to acquire 51% of the Brooklyn-based organisation and merge the remaining 49% of the business into the broader Netsurit group. He says the planned acquisition will provide Netsurit with some real critical mass in the US market, right from the get-go.
According to Klopper, the US is a very exciting market and represents exponential growth opportunities for Netsurit.
"We have been very focused on our managed services and architecture competence, and believe we could compete in the American market. We can learn a lot from the business we are planning to merge with in the US. Through humility, a healthy dose of paranoia, sound strategy and some hard work, we believe we could build a very significant business in the US."
He says the move is for him "probably 80% a business opportunity, 10% personal adventure and 10% to hedge against instability in SA".
"I think that every good South African business should be looking to diversify their incomes outside of SA and this is the decision that we have made."
Local core
Despite the move, SA remains a key market for Netsurit and Klopper says the company is still experiencing "unbelievable growth" locally.
"SA is the core of our business and remains the foundation of our growth as we look to expand in to the US.
"My wife and I love SA and we haven't lost faith in this country. Actually I don't just love it ? I feel like I owe SA. So I believe we will be back, but we are also just going with an open mind."
The company has some ambitious targets for growth in the next few years, which he says will come from a combination of organic and acquisitive growth.
"In the next five years, we want to achieve $100 million in revenue, that's the target."
Netsurit was launched in the late 1990s by Klopper and CIO Rian van der Walt, and has been ranked as one of the world's top 100 managed service providers for the last six years.
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