Globant Acquires gA In Digital, Cloud Transformation Channel Play

The solution provider, with its 14th acquisition in 12 years, is purchasing gA, a digital platform and transformation services provider, as part of its strategy for increasing its global presence to serve customers wherever they have offices.

Argentina-based technology services company Globant is expanding its footprint in the U.S. and Latin America with the acquisition of gA, a Miami-based provider of digital platform and transformation services.

The acquisition is aimed at building a global footprint to provide services to U.S. businesses with global presence and international businesses with a U.S. presence, said Fernando Matzkin, chief business officer for Globant‘s North American business.

“Many of our clients have a global presence,” Matzkin told CRN. ”We are prepared to provide services wherever they are located.”

[Related: MSP Merger: Coronavirus No Obstacle To Datapath’s Bright Bear Buy]

Globant has deep experience in supply chains, especially in the health-care and pharmacy verticals, Matzkin said. This includes experience in software development that is helping the solution provider to increase its capabilities in digital and cognitive sciences, he said.

Meanwhile, gA brings strong Oracle and SAP partnerships and will help expand Globant‘s value offerings and bring in more enterprise application capabilities, Matzkin said.

“Many of our customers look to migrate their ERP from on-premises to the cloud,” he said. ”This acquisition will help us expand our capabilities.”

Globant acquired all of gA for $74.5 million. Matzkin said gA was a very profitable company.

Globant has a history of acquisitions, having purchased 14 companies, including gA , starting in 2008. Recent acquisitions include the 2019 purchases of Latin American Salesforce partner Avanxo and Latin American software developer Belatrix Software, and the 2018 purchase of U.S.-based software developer Small Footprint.

The founders of Globant and gA have known each other for years, Matzkin said.

“During the early stages of Globant, we saw gA as a very successful company,” he said. ”gA was almost a role model for us. There was a lot of mutual admiration.”

About three to four months ago, the two started discussing a possible acquisition even as the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic prevented face-to-face meetings, Matzkin said.

“The entire process was done virtually,” he said. ”Even the signing of the documents was done virtually. All the discussions were done via Zoom meetings.”

The deal closed July 31.