Vonage To Buy NewVoiceMedia For $350 Million As Cloud-Based Voice Consolidation Continues

Vonage revealed its biggest acquisition plans to date Thursday: The cloud communications provider is buying NewVoiceMedia, a privately owned Contact-Center-as-a-Service company, for $350 million.

Holmdel, N.J.-based Vonage offers cloud-based voice services for consumers and businesses. Over the last year, the company has been doubling down on Contact Center as a Service (CCaaS) as a way to go after more midmarket and enterprise business.

The all-cash deal will help Vonage bolster its CCaaS portfolio and give enterprises and channel partners a full voice solution, including Unified Communications as a Service and CCaaS, according to the company.

[Related: Vonage Launches Its First Channel Program To Boost Cloud Communications Sales]

San Francisco-based NewVoiceMedia offers pure-play cloud contact center offerings to more than 700 midmarket and enterprise customers today, including global companies such as Adobe, Siemens and Time Inc.

"We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of NewVoiceMedia, which represents a major step forward in the realization of our strategic vision to deliver a differentiated, fully programmable communications solution that drives more meaningful customer interactions and better outcomes for businesses," said Vonage CEO Alan Masarek in a statement on the deal.

Masarek said that the deal will also help the company deepen its integrations and relationships with key CRM providers, such as Salesforce.com.

NewVoiceMedia will continue to be led by current CEO Dennis Fois, the two companies said.

Vonage wants the channel to drive CCaaS and other cloud communications sales. The company launched its first channel program in March—the Vonage Partner Network—which is being led by channel chief Bob Crissman, who joined Vonage last September. Vonage in the past has done about 20 percent of its business through the channel, but that percentage is growing, Crissman told CRN in March.

In August, Vonage acquired TokBox, a subsidiary of Telefonica that specializes in WebRTC programmable video, for $25 million.

The Vonage-NewVoiceMedia transaction is expected to close during fourth-quarter 2018 and is subject to standard regulatory review and closing conditions.