IBM Acquires Hakkoda to Boost AI Consultancy Investment

# IBM # Hakkoda

On Monday, IBM announced its acquisition of Hakkoda, a New York-based data and AI consultancy. This move is set to bolster IBM's consulting capabilities, especially in sectors such as financial services, the public sector, and healthcare and life sciences. According to Mohamad Ali, IBM's Senior Vice President and head of the consulting business, "With Hakkoda's data expertise, deep technology partnerships, and asset-centric delivery model, IBM will be even better-positioned to deliver value faster to clients as they transform with AI." The financial details of the acquisition remain undisclosed. This acquisition aligns with IBM's ongoing efforts to enhance its AI and automation technologies. Earlier in the year, IBM acquired DataStax, a platform for developing AI applications, and completed its purchase of HashiCorp, a firm specializing in infrastructure and security automation. These strategic moves have paid off; in the fourth quarter of 2024, IBM reported a significant revenue increase—the largest in five years—boosting its stock by 10%. At that time, IBM highlighted that its AI bookings and sales had surpassed $5 billion since inception. Founded in 2021 by former Deloitte General Manager Erik Duffield, Hakkoda specializes in assisting clients in migrating data to the cloud, particularly to the Snowflake data cloud. The company offers a variety of tools for data migration and transformation, as well as solutions for modernizing data from legacy systems. Hakkoda has raised $5.6 million in venture capital, with investors including Tercera, Lead Edge Capital, and Casimir Holdings, according to Crunchbase. As part of the acquisition, Hakkoda's extensive team of consultants, spread across the U.S., Latin America, India, Europe, and the U.K., will join IBM's consulting division. Erik Duffield expressed enthusiasm about the merger, stating, "From the beginning, Hakkoda has committed to being 'in the arena,' not observing the greatest transformation in history but shaping it. IBM's heritage of innovation, their commitment to discovery, and deep partnerships with clients on their most technical challenges [are] a perfect pairing to take Hakkoda's industry-focused modern data consulting to the global marketplace."

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