Virtual1 has ring-fenced the IP and assets of its partner portal with the acquisition of Upshot's Trinity Portal division for an undisclosed sum. Upshot is a developer of telecoms portals including Virtual1's 1Portal and the acquisition, Virtual1's first strategic buy, also provides the company with a dedicated resource of developers to focus on planned enhancements for 1Portal.
Virtual1 CEO Tom O'Hagan said: "Our ambitions have always been to differentiate from our competitors by providing the fastest quote-to-order process and 1Portal is key to achieving that."
As part of the investment, Peter Francis, CEO of Upshot, will act as an advisor to Virtual1.
He said: "The team at Virtual1 were as passionate about the capability and potential of the Trinity assets as I am. Over the years they have contributed to the feature rich capability of Trinity and this is a great move for Virtual1 in securing the IP and assets.
"We've worked closely with Virtual1 to ensure a smooth transition of both assets and resource with our development team being introduced to Virtual1 during the early stages of negotiations."
1Portal serves over 1,500 portal users and the number of placed quotes exceeds 100,000.