Avnet Inc., which sold off its Technology Solutions Group just two months to Tech Data, completed an acquisition of its own today by wrapping up the Hackster Inc. deal.
The Hackster acquisition is a two-part transaction in which Avnet will get the rest of the company on January 2017. Hackster.io is an online community founded by Ben Larralde and Adam Benzion that helps users worldwide to learn how to design, create and program Internet-connected hardware. The combination of Hackster.io with Avnet’s recently launched MakerSource resource directory and acquisition of Premier Farnell’s community will allow start-ups to design and create new ideas, then find the resources to support them as they prepare to take their product to market.
The financial details of this deal were not disclosed by Avnet.
Hackster.io engages with nearly 90 technology partners, and maintains 100 Hackster Live ambassadors that support a network consisting of close to 200,000 engineers, makers and hobbyists.
William Amelio, CEO of Avnet, said the Hackster deal helps start-ups bring ideas to market. The addition of Hackster’s online platform will enable users to accelerate their hardware knowledge and time-to-market.
While the value-added distributor was dotting the “I” and crossing the “T” in the Hackster deal, it also introduced a managed security service for its network of channel partners. This new service provides partners with a way to offer customers around the clock security monitoring and management.