Rapidly growing IT managed services company Thrive Networks Inc. is approaching $400 million in revenue in 2025, and is aiming to become the first $1 billion “next generation” managed service provider in the next four to five years, CEO Bill McLaughlin said.

The September purchase of VitalCore marks the Court Square Capital Partners LP and Berkshire Partners LLC platform’s 26th acquisition, bringing its employee count to 1,600 globally, and more add-ons are on the way.

“So far this year, we’ve done four acquisitions,” said McLaughlin, noting that one is yet to be announced.

Over the years, he said, Foxborough, Mass.-based Thrive has evolved beyond the traditional range of IT managed services to offer managed security services, private and public cloud, a ServiceNow Inc. (NOW) platform, virtual chief information officers and chief information security offers and other services.

The company typically makes four or five acquisitions per year.

Acquisition candidates can run from $1.5 million to $3 million in Ebitda at the lower end to $5 million to $15 million, though the company has looked at merger partners with more than $20 million in Ebitda.

Acquisition partners can range from 30 to 50 employees, to upwards of 250 to 300 employees.

“It runs the gamut,” McLaughlin said. “Right now we’ve got a very healthy pipeline of of targets that we’re actively engaged with.”

Thrive Networks raised capital from Berkshire Partners and existing investor Court Square in January. McLaughlin, who joined Thrive in 2021, was named CEO in February. Thrive retained Lazard Ltd. and Moelis & Co. LLC to advise on the latest investment round, while Berkshire and Court Square received advice from Guggenheim Securities LLC.

Thrive has offices from Toronto and Ottawa, down the East Coast of the U.S. from Maine to Miami, with outposts in Texas, Tennessee and California. Overseas, the company has locations in the U.K., Australia, Singapore, Hong Kong and the Philippines.

Generally speaking, cities where there are NFL teams are attractive markets.

“We’d love to expand further in Chicago, while we do have employees there,” McLaughlin said.

Editor’s note: The original, full version of this article was published Oct. 21, 2025, on The Deal’s premium subscription website. For access, log in to TheDeal.com or use the form below to request a demo.