Halifax-based tech consulting group Barrington Edge has invested in a high-growth U.S. tech company and hopes to use the relationship to improve sales for Atlantic Canadian clients.

Barrington Edge, which grew out of the more established Barrington Consultancy, has developed its relationship with CieloIT, which has been booking annual revenue growth of 300 percent. The Texas company recently placed No. 331 in The Inc. 500, the list of the 500 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. Barrington Edge this month deepened that relationship by taking an equity stake in CieloIT, a move its principals hope will help the ecosystem for Atlantic Canadian startups.

With offices in Halifax and St. John’s, Barrington Edge is already working with four to five Atlantic Canadian startups companies. It has taken an equity position in one Halifax-based client (which it is unable to name due to a confidentiality agreement), and has helped it raise more than $2 million in equity funding from Halifax investors.

“[CieloIT] is seeing 300 percent per year growth and we’re going to help them with that growth,” Barrington Edge Founder and Managing Director Dennis Young said in an interview. “This allows us an opportunity to work with a high-growth technology company and it further validates our high-growth business model…In time, we feel that it will help us in Atlantic Canada to accelerate our ecosystem.”

The story of Barrington Edge began 15 years ago with the launch of Barrington Consultancy, which now employs about 75 people. It offers advice in such areas as strategy, project management and IT design to a range of private- and public-sector clients.

In late 2016, it hired Young, an IT veteran who had held a range of senior positions, and soon he was heading Barrington Edge, which focuses on startups and high-growth companies.

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Young said the new unit has a dual mission. First, it helps early-stage companies develop their product, find a market and launch. Though Edge itself has fewer than 10 staff, it has access to the team at Barrington Consultancy, which includes experts in IT design and development. What’s more, it can tap the group’s network of clients, which can help portfolio companies find partners in export markets.

Young explained that he encourages early-stage companies to avoid taking on staff to keep costs low, and instead to rely on Barrington’s expertise. If Barrington Edge sees a market for the company’s product, it takes an equity stake in the company, helps it raise investment and find foreign clients.

The second part of its mission is to help scaling companies expand their client base in international markets. Its relationship with CieloIT would be a prime example.

CieloIT offers services in IT support, communications and education in such industries as health and fitness, theme parks and fast food restaurants. It is part of Lubbock, Texas-based Cielo Global Holdings, which has over 800 employees in the U.S. and Latin America. Young is now helping CieloIT roll out six to eight new tech products in cooperation with the CieloIT development team in Mexico.

With its network expanding, Young now hopes to build up a book of clients in Atlantic Canada, both in the early-stage and scaling phases.

“Our partners in Barrington have been partners in large companies, so they bring skills that can help to form a company quickly,” said Young. “Through our relationship, we can help bring a product to market quickly.”