IBM acquires consultancy Hakkoda in continued AI funding push

IBM on Monday announced that it acquired Hakkoda, an information and AI consultancy primarily based in New York, for an undisclosed quantity.

Mohamad Ali, SVP and head of IBM’s consulting enterprise, stated that the acquisition would “additional broaden” IBM’s capacity to deliver consultants and AI to shoppers, notably clients in industries like monetary providers, public sector, and healthcare and life sciences.

“With Hakkoda’s knowledge experience, deep expertise partnerships, and asset-centric supply mannequin,” Ali stated in an announcement, “IBM will probably be even better-positioned to ship worth quicker to shoppers as they rework with AI.”

IBM’s Hakkoda purchase comes as the previous firm continues to ramp up its investments in AI and automation applied sciences. In February, IBM acquired DataStax, a platform for constructing AI apps, and the outfit lately finalized its purchase of infrastructure and safety automation agency HashiCorp.

It’s a method that’s carried out nicely for IBM. In This autumn 2024, the corporate, which makes the majority of its AI revenue from consulting, recorded its biggest revenue jump in 5 years — sending its inventory hovering 10%. In This autumn, IBM stated that AI bookings and gross sales stood at over $5 billion inception-to-date.

Co-founded in 2021 by ex-Deloitte GM Erik Duffield, Hakkoda helps clients transfer knowledge to the cloud – specifically, the Snowflake knowledge cloud. The startup gives a spread of instruments to assist companies migrate and rework knowledge, in addition to merchandise to “modernize” knowledge from older methods.

Previous to its exit, Hakkoda managed to lift $5.6 million in enterprise capital, according to Crunchbase. Backers embrace Tercera, Lead Edge Capital, and Casimir Holdings.

Duffield stated that Hakkoda’s tons of of consultants throughout the U.S., Latin America, India, Europe, and the UK will be a part of IBM Consulting, IBM’s consulting division, as a part of the acquisition deal.

“From the start, Hakkoda has dedicated to being ‘within the enviornment,’ not observing the best transformation in historical past however shaping it,” Duffield stated in a press launch. “IBM’s heritage of innovation, their dedication to discovery, and deep partnerships with shoppers on their most technical challenges [are] an ideal pairing to take Hakkoda’s industry-focused trendy knowledge consulting to the worldwide market.”