NEW YORK & COPENHAGEN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Accenture (NYSE: ACN) has acquired Halfspace, a leading and multi-award-winning Denmark-based AI company that helps organizations leverage and scale AI to make better, more informed decisions, faster.
The acquisition enhances Accenture’s AI capabilities and talent in the Nordic region and across Europe. With the addition of Halfspace, Accenture will extend the Center for Advanced AI into the Nordics, focused on helping clients capture and create value from AI.
Founded in 2015, Halfspace develops AI and generative AI solutions and products that drive value creation by streamlining complex business workflows and uses advanced analytics and data science to transform data into actionable insights. Halfspace has delivered more than 100 data and AI projects to large Nordic organizations and the acquisition will expand Accenture’s footprint in the market.
“AI adoption is accelerating across the enterprise faster than any prior technology. Our research shows that 69% of executives believe it brings new urgency to reinvention,” said Carsten Sachmann, Accenture’s lead for the Nordic region. “As one of the largest pure-play AI companies in Northern Europe, Halfspace expands and complements our AI capabilities and talent and enhances our ability to help our clients benefit fully from the potential of AI.”
Halfspace adds close to 80 highly qualified AI practitioners to Accenture’s Nordic AI practice, with highly relevant backgrounds in strategy consulting and globally renowned academic institutions. The Halfspace professionals have deep knowledge in physics, engineering, mathematics, statistics, operations research, computer science, chemistry, economics, biology, and design. The company also has strong ecosystem relationships with leading AI platform companies including Databricks, Microsoft and NVIDIA.
“AI innovation continues to grow at an unprecedented pace, but many organizations need support to effectively scale the technology across their organizations,” said Matt Prebble, Accenture’s Data & AI lead for EMEA. “With the addition of Halfspace, we are expanding the footprint of our Center for Advanced AI in Europe, strengthening our ability to deliver impactful AI solutions to our clients in the region, helping them drive new levels of value and growth.”
Claus Bek Nielsen, CEO of Halfspace, added, “For the past ten years, we’ve been committed to delivering high quality AI across industries to drive lasting value for our clients, while attracting the brightest and most talented people. By combining forces with Accenture, we can further scale our solutions and industry reach, delivering even greater results for our clients across the Nordic region, while creating exciting new opportunities for our people. We are proud to support the expansion of the Center for Advanced AI into the Nordics, putting a laser focus on delivering AI excellence.”
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
About Accenture
Accenture is a leading global professional services company that helps the world’s leading businesses, governments and other organizations build their digital core, optimize their operations, accelerate revenue growth and enhance citizen services—creating tangible value at speed and scale. We are a talent- and innovation-led company with approximately 799,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Technology is at the core of change today, and we are one of the world’s leaders in helping drive that change, with strong ecosystem relationships. We combine our strength in technology and leadership in cloud, data and AI with unmatched industry experience, functional expertise and global delivery capability. Our broad range of services, solutions and assets across Strategy & Consulting, Technology, Operations, Industry X and Song, together with our culture of shared success and commitment to creating 360° value, enable us to help our clients reinvent and build trusted, lasting relationships. We measure our success by the 360° value we create for our clients, each other, our shareholders, partners and communities. Visit us at accenture.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Except for the historical information and discussions contained herein, statements in this news release may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “likely,” “anticipates,” “aspires,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “believes,” “estimates,” “positioned,” “outlook,” “goal,” “target” and similar expressions are used to identify these forward-looking statements. These statements are not guarantees of future performance nor promises that goals or targets will be met, and involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that are difficult to predict and could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. These risks include, without limitation, risks that: Accenture and Halfspace will not be able to close the transaction in the time period anticipated, or at all, which is dependent on the parties’ ability to satisfy certain closing conditions; the transaction might not achieve the anticipated benefits for Accenture; Accenture’s results of operations have been, and may in the future be, adversely affected by volatile, negative or uncertain economic and geopolitical conditions and the effects of these conditions on the company’s clients’ businesses and levels of business activity; Accenture’s business depends on generating and maintaining client demand for the company’s services and solutions including through the adaptation and expansion of its services and solutions in response to ongoing changes in technology and offerings, and a significant reduction in such demand or an inability to respond to the evolving technological environment could materially affect the company’s results of operations; risks and uncertainties related to the development and use of AI could harm the company’s business, damage its reputation or give rise to legal or regulatory action; if Accenture is unable to match people and their skills with client demand around the world and attract and retain professionals with strong leadership skills, the company’s business, the utilization rate of the company’s professionals and the company’s results of operations may be materially adversely affected; Accenture faces legal, reputational and financial risks from any failure to protect client and/or company data from security incidents or cyberattacks; the markets in which Accenture operates are highly competitive, and Accenture might not be able to compete effectively; Accenture’s ability to attract and retain business and employees may depend on its reputation in the marketplace; if Accenture does not successfully manage and develop its relationships with key ecosystem partners or fails to anticipate and establish new alliances in new technologies, the company’s results of operations could be adversely affected; Accenture’s profitability could materially suffer due to pricing pressure, if the company is unable to remain competitive, if its cost-management strategies are unsuccessful or if it experiences delivery inefficiencies or fail to satisfy certain agreed-upon targets or specific service levels; changes in Accenture’s level of taxes, as well as audits, investigations and tax proceedings, or changes in tax laws or in their interpretation or enforcement, could have a material adverse effect on the company’s effective tax rate, results of operations, cash flows and financial condition; Accenture’s results of operations could be materially adversely affected by fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; Accenture’s debt obligations could adversely affect its business and financial condition; changes to accounting standards or in the estimates and assumptions Accenture makes in connection with the preparation of its consolidated financial statements could adversely affect its financial results; as a result of Accenture’s geographically diverse operations and strategy to continue to grow in key markets around the world, the company is more susceptible to certain risks; if Accenture is unable to manage the organizational challenges associated with its size, the company might be unable to achieve its business objectives; Accenture might not be successful at acquiring, investing in or integrating businesses, entering into joint ventures or divesting businesses; Accenture’s business could be materially adversely affected if the company incurs legal liability; Accenture’s global operations expose the company to numerous and sometimes conflicting legal and regulatory requirements; Accenture’s work with government clients exposes the company to additional risks inherent in the government contracting environment; if Accenture is unable to protect or enforce its intellectual property rights or if Accenture’s services or solutions infringe upon the intellectual property rights of others or the company loses its ability to utilize the intellectual property of others, its business could be adversely affected; Accenture may be subject to criticism and negative publicity related to its incorporation in Ireland; as well as the risks, uncertainties and other factors discussed under the “Risk Factors” heading in Accenture plc’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and other documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. Statements in this news release speak only as of the date they were made, and Accenture undertakes no duty to update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform such statements to actual results or changes in Accenture’s expectations.
