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Wipro may have acquired US based Appirio for over $400m

Bengaluru: Wipro is learnt to have acquired US-based cloud consultancy firm Appirio. The size of the acquisition could be in the range of $400-500 million (Rs 2,700-3,350 crore), making it one of Wipro’s biggest acquisitions, sources told TOI.

Appirio, whose technology enables companies to integrate cloud and on-premises applications seamlessly, counts Facebook, NYSE EuroNext and Four Seasons among its customers. It has raised $111 million from marquee investors including General Atlantic, Sequoia Capital and Fidelity Management. An article published earlier this year in IBJ.com says Appirio had a revenue of $200 million in 2015.

Wipro did not respond to requests for comment till the time of going to print. TOI left voice messages on Appirio’s calling system, but there was no response from the company.

A search on Google throws up a website titled ‘Appirio — A Wipro Company’, which was created and registered with domain registrar GoDaddy on October 13. There is no content yet on the site. But the creation of the site so recently suggests that the deal has been concluded.

Appirio has been seen as a prized acquisition target, with many vying for it, so Wipro could have won it only through an aggressive bid. The deal would perhaps be Wipro’s second or third largest. It had acquired Infocrossing for $600 million and HealthPlan Services for $460 million. Earlier this year, the $7.5-billion IT major had cancelled its proposed acquisition of Viteos Group, a securities processing and fund administration services provider, due to inordinate delays in completion of closing conditions.

Appirio was founded in 2006 by Chris Barbin, Mike O’Brien, Glenn Weistein and Narinder Singh and employs over 1,200 employees. It manages complex deployments across cloud, social and mobile, equipping enterprises to integrate cloud-based software like Workday, Medallia and Salesforce into their workflows in areas including customer service, marketing, operations and order management.

“This would be a first class acquisition to bolster Wipro’s as-a-service capabilities, cloud, mobile and digital acumen. In my view, this would represent one of the most compelling and bold moves from an Indian-heritage major to date,” said Phil Fersht, CEO of US-based IT advisory firm HfS Research.

The acquisition will up the game for Wipro in Salesforce implementation. Last year, Accenture acquired UK-based Salesforce consulting service provider Tquila. It also bought Germany-based ClientHouse for Salesforce implementation and SaaS capabilities.

“Saleforce.com services really gets Wipro on the map in the lucrative salesforce implementation and consulting business. Appirio’s Amazon web development services around Salesforce and Heroku, where Appirio does some very impressive work for clients such as Eli Lilly, would be a major plus for Wipro and sets the firm against the likes of IBM, Capgemini and Accenture. Wipro had suffered from several failed implementations, and this would really help get it on the map as a Workday partner,” added Fersht.

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