The city of Sarasota needed cybersecurity software. The software existed. A reseller, Optiv, was ready to help. Yet the missing piece was something less glamorous than artificial intelligence: a workable purchasing route. In Climb Channel Solutions’ account of the project, its OMNIA Partners contract helped turn the request into an executed purchase order in two weeks. The deal ran to five figures. The paperwork had been the obstacle.
- Climb helps software vendors reach resellers, and helps resellers sell unfamiliar technology.
- Its edge is a carefully chosen portfolio backed by sales, marketing and technical support.
- Expansion is working. Turning extra business into extra profit remains the test.
This is a useful place to begin with Climb Global Solutions. Technology gets the applause; distribution gets the contract signed. Between a promising product and a customer’s working system sits a collection of awkward jobs. Someone has to explain the product, train the seller, arrange credit and make procurement possible. Climb has built its business around those jobs.
The shelf is deliberately small
A conventional account of distribution begins with abundance: more brands, more stock, more places to buy. Climb’s most revealing recent number points in another direction. In the fourth quarter of 2025, management said it evaluated nearly 100 potential vendor relationships and signed two. One was Fortinet. Getting onto the list was harder than finding the list.
“We evaluated nearly 100 potential vendor relationships and signed only two.”
Dale Foster, CEO · February 2026
The logic is practical. Every additional vendor asks for attention. Resellers need to understand where a product fits, whose problem it solves and how to demonstrate it. A distributor that promises those services cannot add brands indefinitely without spreading its people thin. Climb’s selectivity is therefore a capacity decision as much as a marketing position.
Darktrace offers an early test. Climb announced a North American distribution agreement in April 2025. By its second-quarter 2026 results, Foster said Darktrace had entered Climb’s top 20 vendors within roughly 12 months of joining. That is one example, rather than proof that every selected vendor will succeed. But it shows what the company wants its attention to produce.
The middleman has several jobs
Climb Channel Solutions supplies corporate resellers, managed service providers, consultants and systems integrators. These businesses sell and support technology for organizations that may have little interest in learning the finer points of virtualization or cloud storage. Climb’s portfolio covers cybersecurity, data management, connectivity, storage, cloud computing and software development tools.
The group also operates a Solutions business. Grey Matter resells software and advises customers, while Climb Global Services handles cloud migration, application modernization and ongoing platform support. That technical team works with products including Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, ManageEngine and Acronis. A buyer can get assistance putting the purchase to work, beyond obtaining a license.
There are lighter ways into the network, too. Launched in 2021, Climb Elevate was designed for emerging brands needing streamlined quoting and fulfillment before investing in a full distribution sales engagement. The Expedition cloud marketplace serves managed service providers. These offerings recognize that a young vendor and an established channel business need different amounts of help.
Two billion dollars needs a footnote
Climb reported approximately $2.1 billion in gross billings for 2025, alongside $652.5 million in net sales. Both numbers describe the business. They measure different things. Gross billings track the value of customer purchases flowing through the operation; some transactions appear in revenue only on a net basis. Calling the larger figure revenue would exaggerate the reported top line.
Billings measure transaction volume. Net sales are reported revenue. The gap is not profit.
The business earns gross profit through distributing and reselling third-party products and delivering services. Its pitch to a vendor is access plus execution; its pitch to a reseller is expertise plus less friction. Arrow, TD SYNNEX and Ingram Micro offer competing distribution routes with considerably greater resources. Climb argues that a smaller specialist can give emerging vendors more focused attention. That argument matters most when a product needs explaining.
Buying the local introduction
Acquisitions extend the same idea across borders. In 2024, Climb paid $20.3 million at closing for Douglas Stewart Software & Services, plus a potential earn-out. Funded with balance-sheet cash, the deal brought a North American education software specialist into the group. It bought sector knowledge and relationships alongside the business itself.
In February 2026, Climb acquired Greece-based interworks.cloud for approximately €8 million, adding more than 600 reseller and managed service provider relationships. On October 22, it announced the roughly €16 million purchase of France’s NeoVAD, with approximately 300 active resellers. NeoVAD’s cybersecurity, cloud and virtualization portfolio includes Cato Networks, DataCore and Netwrix. Local training and technical support were part of the attraction.
The capital has to come from somewhere. Climb suspended quarterly dividends beginning in 2026 to preserve flexibility for growth and strategic opportunities. Its $50 million JPMorgan revolving facility, signed in 2023, is borrowing capacity, rather than a venture funding round. As of June 30, 2026, the company reported no outstanding debt.
Attention has a payroll
The trade-off appeared in the second quarter of 2026. Gross profit rose 15% to $30.2 million, yet adjusted EBITDA slipped from $11.4 million to $11.3 million. Selling, general and administrative expenses increased, reflecting interworks.cloud, variable sales compensation, professional fees and IT investment. More business had arrived; the operating costs arrived with it.
Climb’s own description of its cultural shift, from order taking toward sales and marketing, helps explain the wager. The transferable lesson is to budget for adoption when choosing a portfolio. A clever product without trained sellers can sit idle. The approach becomes less persuasive when buyers need only the lowest price, vendors can sell directly, or support costs outrun the margin. Back in Sarasota, the useful achievement was straightforward: someone made the purchase possible.