After St. Joseph tech firm acquisition, Online Tech expands to KC
April 20, 2017 | Meghan LeVota
Ann Arbor-based Online Tech has acquired a St. Joseph, Mo. cloud firm, paving the way for its expansion into Kansas City.
The cloud security company announced Thursday that it purchased St. Joseph-based Echo Cloud, which provides colocation and cloud hosting services.
Echo Cloud CEO Bill Severn said he’s pleased to be joining the Online Tech team.
“I believe the values we hold match Online Tech’s very well, and I think this will be a great partnership moving forward,” Severn said in a release. “Online Tech has been a leader in compliance for many years,I’m pleased we can now offer HIPAA- or PCI-compliant data hosting to our existing customers here in Kansas City.”
Allowing for easier service management, Severn added that the companies will combine their existing services into Online Tech’s client platform. Wanting to tap the Kansas City market, Online Tech was interested in Echo Cloud for its ability to grow in the Midwest.
With offices in Michigan and Indiana, CEO of Online Tech CEO Yan Ness is excited to expand the firm’s product line.
“I’m very pleased with this deal,” Ness said in a release. “We really like the Kansas City market. There’s lots of demand that we think is underserved, and this is a great opportunity to provide companies in the area with our secure, compliant hybrid IT services.”
Severn, who declined to disclose the amount of the acquisition, will no longer serve as CEO for Echo Cloud, but will stay on the board of directors for Online Tech. The firm will maintain its offices in St. Joseph, Mo.

2017 Startups to Watch
stats here
Related Posts on Startland News
Swappa re-homes millions worth of smartphones
About 90 million Americans say they swap out their smartphone every two years, according to a 2015 Gallup study. That means every day about 123,000 used smartphones either find a new owner or a dark home in a drawer, frittering away their value. But one Kansas City startup is already helping thousands of used-smartphone owners…
Amazon’s delivery backlash and 800 robots descend on St. Louis
In this week’s roundup of watercooler talk from the region’s startup hubs, we have the dish on Amazon’s digital divide backpedaling, St. Louis’ international robotics competition and Denver’s vibrant city culture. Check out more in this series here.a ChicagoInno: Amid controversy, Amazon is finally bringing same-day delivery to the South Side And the backpedaling continues.…
Kansas City streetcar kickoff syncs with Smart City launch
It’s poised to be a momentous week for Kansas City infrastructure. In addition to the Friday launch of the much-anticipated Kansas City streetcar line, the City of Fountains has officially kicked off operations of its smart city framework. The $15.7 million public-private project aims to transform Kansas City’s downtown into a living lab of Wi-Fi…
