Coeur d’Alene-based fiber optic provider Fatbeam LLC has acquired a division of sister company Ednetics Inc. and is planning more acquisitions after securing $10 million in financing from two private equity firms.

Greg Green, CEO of Fatbeam, who co-founded the company in 2010 with Ednetics owner Shawn Swanby, says he and Swanby decided Fatbeam should explore acquisition options around the time Fatbeam received financing from Stamford, Conn.-based private equity firm Bank Street Capital Partners and from Westport, Conn.-based Post Road Capital Management LLC.

Fatbeam builds fiber optic networks for schools, hospitals, and markets with populations of 150,000 or fewer, Green says.

With financing secured, Green and Swanby chose as Fatbeam’s first acquisition Connect IP, a division Ednetics had developed to serve the technology needs of school districts.

“They’re in the education space. They had developed this product for school districts, and since we own and operate fiber optic networks, it was a better fit for us to acquire it and move it over to Fatbeam,” Green says. “It was kind of a good fit because we were already serving school districts with our fiber optics, connecting schools together, but weren’t delivering an internet product.”

While Green declines to disclose specific terms of the IP Connect acquisition, he says the transaction is valued at “a couple of million dollars,” and IP Connect is expected to add a few million dollars to Fatbeam’s annual revenue.

Fatbeam currently has 22 employees and annual revenue of about $10 million, he says. Fatbeam is located at 2065 W. Riverstone Drive, Suite 105, in Coeur d’Alene.

The remaining products and services Ednetics provides include building wired and wireless infrastructure, network security, voice and video calls, and physical security solutions. The company primarily caters to schools and colleges. Ednetics is located at 971 Clearwater Loop, in Post Falls. According to the Journal’s list of Kootenai County’s largest employers, Ednetics had 117 total employees as of the end of 2017. 

Green says he’s not yet ready to reveal what companies Fatbeam plans to acquire but says “acquisition candidates are on our agenda.”