Heartland Business Systems (HBS), an information technology services provider, is accelerating acquisitions in managed services and cybersecurity, said Sean Epps, managing partner at HBS’ financial sponsor GenNx360 Capital Partners.

Little Chute, Wisconsin-based HBS is typically targeting businesses with USD 15m to USD 50m in annual revenue, while remaining open to larger opportunities, Epps said. Target companies should be EBITDA-positive, he added.

HBS is conservatively capitalized to support a serial acquisition strategy.

“We are going to continue to drive this acquisition strategy and complete more acquisitions in the future,” Epps said, declining to be more specific about the timeline.

The most attractive targets are managed service providers, managed security service providers, and companies focused on cybersecurity, data, cloud, and infrastructure, Epps added. Artificial intelligence could also become an area of interest in the future, although it is currently growing in that area organically, he added.

Geographically, HBS’ core footprint is in the Midwest, with strength in Wisconsin and neighboring states. Its most recent acquisition, the purchase of Applied Tech in April, was the first since GenNx360’s investment in HBS in October 2025. Applied Tech deepened HBS’s presence in Wisconsin and added exposure to the Rocky Mountain region, Epps said.

Looking ahead, GenNx360 expects HBS to prioritize acquisitions within its existing footprint as well as in contiguous regions, including parts of the interior Midwest and the Rocky Mountains, he said.

Targets will be identified using Heartland’s corporate development team, relationships with industry bankers and GenNx360’s work experience and network in IT services. The PE firm previously invested in ITsavvy, which it sold to listed Xerox in October 2024 for USD 400m.

Heartland is investing internally in AI, both to improve efficiency and as a potential new revenue opportunity. The company is using AI to automate functions across finance, back-office operations, and service delivery, and has recently hired a head of AI to develop customer-facing offerings. These initiatives are early-stage, with the possibility of inorganic investment in AI at a later date, he said.

Organic growth is also expected to come from increasing complexity in corporate IT environments, particularly around data, infrastructure, and security, Epps said.

HBS’s customers are from the commercial and public sectors and include enterprises and small and medium businesses working in education, healthcare, manufacturing, and distribution.

“It’s got a customer base that resembles the economy of the greater Midwest,” Epps said.

GenNx360 is building HBS into a scaled platform with services that can meet a range of customer needs, Epps added. Like ITsavvy, HBS is being built to be attractive to both strategic and financial buyers, he said.

The investor declined to comment on financials but said HBS is already sizable. “It’s developed significant scale,” Epps said.