Global strategy and management consulting firm McKinsey & Company has closed its first ever deal in Israel, with the acquisition of Iguazio boosting the firm’s QuantumBlack subsidiary.
Formed in 2015 when McKinsey & Company acquired London-based QuantumBlack (which rose to global fame for its pioneering role in applying data science within Formula 1), today QuantumBlack is McKinsey’s subsidiary for artificial intelligence (AI) services and solutions. Globally, QuantumBlack has over 1,000 staff.
With the aim of accelerating its growth, QuantumBlack turned to a true AI-style approach to finding its most suitable buy-and-build partner. “We analyzed more than a 1.000 AI companies worldwide and identified Iguazio as the best fit to significantly accelerate our offering,” said Ben Ellencweig, a senior partner at McKinsey & Company.
Founded in 2014 by four co-founders (CEO Asaf Somekh, CTO Yaron Haviv, COO Yaron Segev, and VP Architecture Orit Nissan-Messing), Iguazio specialises in bringing advanced data science to life. The company’s platform helps its clients automate machine learning pipelines, enabling data scientists to focus on delivering better, more accurate and more powerful solutions instead of spending their time on infrastructure.
“Iguazio has a state-of-the-art technology that has generated significant market traction with some of our marquee clients and earned them top-industry recognition. Strengthening our offering with Iguazio will allow us to present to the market the first holistic solution globally that helps any organization truly harness the full potential of AI,” said Ellencweig.
Iguazio’s 70+ data and AI experts will become part of QuantumBlack’s EMEA business, and its technology platform will be added to McKinsey’s ever growing suite of solutions.
The bolt-on comes at a time of rapidly growing interest in artificial intelligence. Touted as the ‘next oil’, effective use of data-driven insights can help organisations unlock billions in value across their client-facing and internal operations. According to McKinsey’s own research, more than $490 billion was invested in AI by organizations around the globe from 2012 to 2021.
“This acquisition will enable us to implement AI with fewer resources at significantly lower cost,” says Alex Singla, McKinsey senior partner and QuantumBlack global co-leader. “This is especially meaningful for companies experiencing a critical shortage of tech talent, one of the reasons many AI projects have been delayed.”
Iguazio is McKinsey’s first acquisition in Israel, and first this year. Last year, the US-headquartered consulting giant acquired companies in the United States, Spain, Hungary and Argentina.
Meanwhile, for Iguazio colleagues, joining McKinsey offers them the chance to deliver greater value to more enterprise clients around the world. “We have spent years developing and refining our technology. This is an opportunity for wider recognition, learning and skills development, and deepening our pride of ownership,” said Nissan-Messing.
Sourced from Consultancy.me