Accenture acquires digital product development firm Intrepid
Accenture has acquired US-based digital product strategy, design and development firm Intrepid, for an undisclosed sum. The deal sees around 150 creative engineers, product design and consultants move over to Accenture’s Accenture Digital arm. The value of the deal has not been disclosed.
The digital design space has become increasingly populated in recent years as companies and customers begun to increasingly leverage online products, goods and services. Global consultancy firms, seeking to offer their clients a one stop solution across marketing, user experience and software related background, have begun to pick up various smaller players to build out their own capacity with pre-selected talent and harmonious teams.
One of the small organisations that has been supplying the New York and Massachusetts markets with digital product strategy, design and development is Intrepid. The company was founded in 2010, and has since grown to a team of more than 150 people across our two locations. Intrepid offers a range of services to large regional clients, focused largely on digital device product design.
The acquisition by Accenture of Intrepid, will see the product development company integrated into its Accenture Digital services line, which houses the firm’s key digital marketing, analytics and mobility services and employs more than 41,000 people. The move comes hot on the heels of Accenture’s earlier acquisition of the mobile agency MOBGEN, adding 160 staff to its digital wing, as the broader consulting industry looks to strengthen its digital capacity to capitalise on rising innovation and disruption across various markets.
Part of this trend saw rival strategy firm McKinsey & Company add Digital Capability Offices to their global presence, in the hope of increasing such output in Singapore and Germany, earlier in 2017. Fellow professional services group Protiviti meanwhile launched Protiviti Digital in response to increasing demand from clients for digital expertise and support, while the Big Four have also been highly active in the space.
Through the acquisition the firm aims to boost its presence in the design, native app development, connected device engineering and web development space, as firm Ankur Mathur, managing director, Accenture Digitalsaid about the acquisition, “Mobile solutions are a cornerstone of digital business transformation and their design and development is a source of continued differentiation for Accenture Digital. When combined with connected devices they offer a broad set of opportunities for our clients to re-invent their business models.”
He further commented on the firm’s delight, as they bring “Intrepid’s highly skilled team into Accenture and to help scale what Intrepid offers to clients today. Our shared values of people-first, disruptive innovation and continuous learning make Intrepid a great fit for Accenture.”
Mark Kasdorf, founder and CEO of Intrepid, meanwhile reflected on the deal, “It has long been our mission to build great digital experiences and bring connected devices to life for everyone, everywhere. We are thrilled to join Accenture and become part of a global network of leading designers and developers who are just as driven as we are to empower people through experience-led innovation. We will be better equipped to seamlessly scale the solutions we design and build in our studio to clients around the world, expanding the impact of beautiful apps that deliver real results.”