Wipro acquires cloud consultancy firm Appirio for $500M

IT-major Wipro has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Appirio, a US-based cloud services company focused on cloud services and cloud integration for USD 500 million. This is regarded to be the second largest acquisition by Wipro, after HealthPlan Services acquisition for $460 million in February this year. Founded by Chris Barbinn in 2006, Appirio has made a name with some of the world’s leading brands, including Stryker, Robert Half, Johnson Controls, Cardinal Health, Coca-Cola, eBay, Facebook, Home Depot, and Sony PlayStation. Headquartered in Indianapolis, it has offices in San Francisco, Dublin, London, and Tokyo with an offshore base in Jaipur (India), where the majority of its 1,200-strong workforce is located. “When you combine Wipro’s global scale and deep digital focus with Appirio’s transformative worker and customer experience expertise, and best in class team, brand, and partners, you create a formidable force in the industry,” said Chris Barbin, Chief Executive Officer of Appirio.

“Together, our aim is to dominate the market and claim the top spots in industry Net Promoter Score, market share, and best places to work.”

According to Wipro, the acquisition will create one of the world’s largest cloud transformation practices, that would be a game changer in today’s as-a-service and digital economy. Furthermore, Appirio brings to Wipro, Topcoder, a crowdsourcing marketplace connecting over a million designers, developers and data scientists around the world with customers. “In an increasingly digital world, as consumer behaviors and expectations continue to be reshaped by experiences, companies are recognizing that they need to transform how they engage with customers and employees by leveraging the power of Cloud,” said Abidali Z. Neemuchwala, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Director, Wipro Limited.

“Appirio and Wipro are coming together to unlock transformational synergies in the applications space and help enterprises create new business models,” he added.

At a time when enterprises are largely taking to the cloud to reap cost effectiveness and ease of deploying sophisticated solutions, services giant are trying hard to up their business applications expertise; not to forget the BlueWolf Group acquisition by IBM for a reported $200 million. Given that Wipro is itself valued at around $18 billion, a $500 million deal is indeed an expensive one for the company. But perhaps it’s worth it! The acquisition is expected to close at the end of the year. William Blair & Company acted as financial advisor to Appirio during the transaction.