Valtech, the experience innovation company, has announced the acquisition of Kin + Carta, the global digital transformation company. The acquisition brings around 1,900 consultants to Valtech, improving its position as a first-choice business transformation partner. The deal will strengthen its ability to service Fortune 500 and household names such as L’Oreal, LVMH, Mars, P&G, Volkswagen, and Dolby. Kin + Carta also brings several marquee brands with the acquisition including M&S, Heathrow Airport, Matalan, Tesco, GSK, Via and Unilever.
The acquisition
Backed by BC Partners, who acquired a major stake in 2021, Valtech has been growing steadily with organic growth. And acquisitions such as Tome and Union, which were more focused on industry-specific consultancies. The Kin + Carta acquisition is significant in that it brings together two leading organisations into a much larger whole. After the acquisition, Valtech will have nearly $1 billion million in revenue. With Kin + Carta achieving revenues of £195.9 million in the year ending July 2023.
The deal sees Valtech acquire Kin + Carta for £239 million, with a mix of shareholder equity and external debt. A further breakdown of the original proposed transaction was published by the LSE in December. However, this might not be the final terms of the deal.
As a result of this deal, Kin + Carta will be delisted from the London Stock Exchange. Several of the senior leadership will join Valtech as well. Kelly Manthey, Kin + Carta CEO, will become CEO of Valtech Americas. Chris Kutsor, Kin + Carta CFO, will take the role of Valtech Americas CFO, effective immediately. Manthey and Kutsor will also join Valtech’s Executive Committee.
Olivier Padiou, CEO of Valtech, commented, “Valtech’s vision has always been to become the world’s most influential Experience Innovation company. This acquisition marks a pivotal moment in achieving that. By bringing Kin + Carta’s extensive expertise and client roster into the fold, we enter a new and exciting era. This means helping brands set new standards with intelligent and personalised experiences, powered by data and AI, that touch lives, grow businesses, and change how people experience the world.”
Kelly Manthey, CEO of Kin + Carta, said, “As two purpose-driven companies, it felt natural for Valtech and Kin + Carta to join forces. With clear cultural alignment, complementary capabilities, and a shared vision for our industry, we are much stronger together. Our clients and technology partners will see the immediate benefits of a better, broader range of services. Our people will benefit from expanded career opportunities.”
What the acquisition brings Valtech
This is not a small acquisition, and there could be some issues over the integration of the two companies as they are brought together. However, the sale of Kin + Carta has been flagged for some time. Hopefully, the leadership and consultants are ready for the changes ahead.
Combined, Valtech believes that it will offer considerable benefits for both clients and partners, including:
- Global scale: Kin + Carta’s sizeable footprint in the US and UK, alongside its LATAM and SEE delivery centres, further strengthens Valtech’s presence in critical growth markets and adds 1,900+ consultants, engineers, and data scientists to its 6,000-strong global team.
- Increased vertical reach: Valtech broadens its retail, finance, automotive and public sector portfolio and reaches new clients in agriculture and other verticals.
- End-to-end delivery: Valtech strengthens its digital engineering, commerce, and experience design expertise with Kin + Carta’s cloud, product development, data, and enterprise AI capabilities.
- Expanded offerings: Together, Valtech and Kin + Carta can cross-sell a more robust suite of offerings and jointly pursue larger strategic engagements. Moreover, Kin + Carta adds America’s largest automotive manufacturer, top financial institutions, top retailers and distributors (among others) to Valtech’s portfolio.
Padiou added, “This deal represents a strategic acceleration of our vision. Experience Innovation calls for a comprehensive strategy that seamlessly integrates and coordinates investments in four critical domains: cloud platforms, data and AI, app modernisation, and customer-facing digital channels to create world-class customer experiences that drive sustainable growth.
“At Valtech, we think about these domains as existing along an ‘innovation continuum’. Our focus on this virtuous cycle sets us apart from other organisations. We understand that for business to truly evolve, we cannot just fix individual problems but must modernise and change whole ecosystems.”
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
Both companies already have a good reputation across several industry sectors. The increase in scale should also mean it is able to compete better with some of the more established global SIs and consultancies. As it looks to leverage the new scale and become involved in even larger projects.
Both companies have significant partnerships with SAP and also share several other relationships across cloud and enterprise applications. It will be interesting to see how relationships evolve and whether they add to the technology stack in the future. Both also have partnerships with Salesforce companies; Valtech names Salesforce as a partner, and Kin + Carta names Mulesoft and Tableau.
