IBM acquires consultancy Hakkoda in continued AI investment push

IBM on Monday announced that it acquired Hakkoda, a data and AI consultancy based in New York, for an undisclosed amount.

Mohamad Ali, SVP and head of IBM’s consulting business, said that the acquisition would “further expand” IBM’s ability to bring consultants and AI to clients, particularly customers in industries like financial services, public sector, and healthcare and life sciences.

“With Hakkoda’s data expertise, deep technology partnerships, and asset-centric delivery model,” Ali said in a statement, “IBM will be even better-positioned to deliver value faster to clients as they transform with AI.”

IBM’s Hakkoda buy comes as the former company continues to ramp up its investments in AI and automation technologies. In February, IBM acquired DataStax, a platform for building AI apps, and the outfit recently finalized its purchase of infrastructure and security automation firm HashiCorp.

It’s a strategy that’s done well for IBM. In Q4 2024, the company, which makes the bulk of its AI income from consulting, recorded its biggest revenue jump in five years — sending its stock soaring 10%. In Q4, IBM said that AI bookings and sales stood at over $5 billion inception-to-date.

Co-founded in 2021 by ex-Deloitte GM Erik Duffield, Hakkoda helps customers move data to the cloud – in particular, the Snowflake data cloud. The startup offers a range of tools to help firms migrate and transform data, as well as products to “modernize” data from older systems.

Prior to its exit, Hakkoda managed to raise $5.6 million in venture capital, according to Crunchbase. Backers include Tercera, Lead Edge Capital, and Casimir Holdings.

Duffield said that Hakkoda’s hundreds of consultants across the U.S., Latin America, India, Europe, and the UK will join IBM Consulting, IBM’s consulting division, as part of the acquisition deal.

“From the beginning, Hakkoda has committed to being ‘in the arena,’ not observing the greatest transformation in history but shaping it,” Duffield said in a press release. “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.”