Vivo signs contract to acquire IPNET, grows in the cloud segment

This is a machine translation of a press release from Telefônica Brasil

São Paulo, July 2024 – With the growing demand from the corporate market for digital services, especially cloud solutions, Vivo advances with its strategy for the segment and signs a contract to acquire IPNET, a company specialized in cloud computing and the main integrator of Google cloud services in Brazil. The operation will be carried out through Telefônica Cloud Brasil (TCloud Brasil), a company controlled by Telefônica Brasil (50.01%) and Telefónica Tech (49.99%), and could reach an amount of up to R$230 million. The transaction is conditioned on compliance with operational and financial metrics agreed between the parties, and is subject to precedent conditions usual for this type of business, including CADE approval.

With the acquisition,   Vivo will increase the number of specialized professionals at TCloud Brasil and accelerate the growth plan in this segment with the incorporation of the entire team (management and operations). Today, IPNET has more than 260 employees and a base of 1,400 customers. The company is Google's main partner in Brazil, with its main lines of business being the resale of products and provision of services related to Google Cloud Platform and Google Workspace. With the operation, the company's skills will be combined with the scale, capillarity and expertise of Vivo's sales force. In 2023, IPNET generated net revenue of R$218 million, a growth of 35% year-on-year.

“This union consolidates Vivo as a reference in technology integration and expands our digital ecosystem, which already has important global partners. We want to contribute to the digitalization process of companies and, thus, enable different business models, accelerate the time-to-market of new products and solutions, in addition to contributing to the reduction of operational costs, gains in efficiency and better allocation of investments of our customers”, points out Vivo’s Vice President of Business, Alex Salgado. “This acquisition, in addition to those we have already made in the past, enables the development of solutions on a larger scale and in a sustainable manner, in addition to revenue growth and better business margin”, explains Salgado.

For the current CEO of IPNET, Fábio Carneiro, the acquisition will increase the company's reach based on the relationship with Vivo's customers and the company's robust sales team, with more than five thousand salespeople across the country. “Our reputation and recognized experience   in the market as a technology integrator, combined with the strength of Vivo's brand and sales, it can place us at the forefront as the main technological partner for companies in their digital transformation processes”, celebrates Carneiro.

With the operation, Vivo reinforces its positioning as a technology company. With 1.6 million customers, its corporate unit stands out for the evolution of its digital ecosystem, made up of IoT, big data, cybersecurity and cloud services, which recorded revenue of R$3.5 billion (LTM 1TR 2024), a high of 20% (LTM 1TR 2024 x LTM 1TR 2023), and are responsible for 6.8% of all Vivo's revenue in the period.

Cloud Strategy

Investment in the cloud services segment is a global strategy of the Telefónica Group. In recent years, Telefónica Tech, the Group's business unit focused on the corporate market that focuses on digital services such as cloud, cybersecurity, IoT, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain, has made important acquisitions for its operations in the European market, such as Incremental and Cancom, in the United Kingdom, Be-terna, in Germany, and the Spanish Altostratus Cloud Consulting.

“With Telefónica Tech, we brought to Vivo a business strategy with a more global vision, placing our business clients in an environment with highly trained professionals, with intelligent processes and platforms and a dynamic ecosystem of alliances and relevant partnerships with global leaders”, concludes Salgado.