Pax8 Powers Ahead with Europe Expansion Plans

Cloud marketplace Pax8 has announced the appointment of Andrew King as its senior director of ISV sales strategy. The former director at TD Synnex will lead the company’s ISV sales strategy initiatives globally, with an initial focus on driving growth in EMEA.

King’s is the latest in a flurry of recent executive appointments at Pax8. In EMEA, it named Alvaro Robles as the new director of strategy for the region. And globally, it appointed Robert Belgrave as chief operating officer (COO) and Elizabeth (Libby) McIlhany as chief product officer (CPO).

Pax8 has been public about its expansion plans for EMEA. Harald Nuij, CEO of Pax8 EMEA, said Pax8 is replicating its initial growth in the U.K. across the rest of Europe.

Pax8's Andrew King

It opened a new office in Riga, Latvia, last September. That followed the acquisition of Baltics distributor TVG in January 2022.

“It’s a strong statement for us to say ‘Pax8 is here to stay in the Baltic region’'” said Harald Nuij, CEO of Pax8 EMEA. “It’s a very digital region, a very developed region. For us, it’s critical to have access to the best talent in the region.”

Elsewhere in Europe, Pax8 has added people in in Benelux, the Nordics and Germany.

“We see that whatever we did quite well in the U.K., we’re replicating this now into some of the other key areas for Europe,” he said.

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Data-Driven Cloud Marketplace

Nuij said Pax8 is making “a big difference” by attending events and talking to partners about their needs.

“This is the key to why Pax8 is on such a positive trajectory; there’s actually somebody out there who’s listening to these MSPs,” he said.

The company launched its new cloud marketplace at Pax8 Beyond in June 2023. Nuij said it reflects how the channel ecosystem is changing.

Pax8's Harald Nuij

“We’ve learned a lot from how MSPs are moving,” he said. “At the same, the channel ecosystem is changing, in which the journey is no longer linear. In other words, B2B buying behaviors. We see that MSPs need help addressing these shifts along with customer acquisitions as they grow their business.”

Nuij said this version of the cloud marketplace is easily configurable and personal to each partner.

“The data is absolutely the heart of what we’re delivering there,” he said. “It’s a data-driven, customer-centric approach to the marketplace where we are giving visualizations to partners, also product recommendations to grow their business. But the most important thing of all … actionable insights based on the data that they have already. So more or less different lenses to pinpoint untapped revenue opportunities that they see. But also the ability to create their own self-branded storefronts where their customers can self-serve."

Related:Pax8 Unveils AI, Data Driven Marketplace

Pax8 Recruiting In Europe

In 2024, regions where Pax8 has traditionally been strong, such as the U.K., Ireland and Benelux, will continue to see investment. The firm is also doubling down on its investments in DACH (Germany, Austria and Switzerland.)

Furthermore, Nuij said there will be more investment in the Nordics, following an office opening in Stockholm last year.

Central to Pax8’s EMEA growth plans is recruitment, said the CEO.

“It’s not so much that we don’t have access to the right talent; it's just that our talent team can only handle so much,” he said. “They are working super hard to get the right talent in. But we don’t cut any corners when it comes to hiring the right staff and the right people. We just want to make sure that we hire nice people, we hire competent people. But you will see similar growth rates in terms of staff and team next year, because we are not slowing down.”