Vincit California Inc. Chief Executive Ville Houttu was decked out in his triathlon gear, pedaling the 25-mile bike course of the California Triathlon in San Dimas, as he recounted the Irvine-based software development company’s end-of-year report in a video released last week.
One large piece of news detailed in the unconventional annual recap was the company’s acquisition of Irvine-based Devise Interactive, a consumer marketing-focused engineering studio, for an undisclosed sum.
The deal is the second acquisition made by the North American headquarters of Finland-based Vincit PLC, formerly Vincit Group PLC, since it opened its doors in the U.S. in 2016.
Houttu said the deal allows the firm to not only add to its pool of 30 employees at its U.S. headquarters overlooking the Irvine Spectrum, but also expand its services into an area Devise has specialized in—the food and restaurant sector.
“They support a lot more in the food and restaurant industry, so that’s a value add for us and [they] understand what these companies need,” he said. “They also have more experience working with startups and being able to create value for these companies was interesting for us.”
Vincit has been able to grow its roster of clients in the handful of years since moving to Orange County. It works with 33 companies including Irvine Co., Yamaha, Logitech and KCRW.
Globally, the company has more than 450 employees and a market cap around $70 million. It went public in October 2016 on Nasdaq Helsinki to raise capital for expansion.
The firm specializes in creating custom mobile apps, business-related software and e-commerce platforms. For example, it recently helped National Public Radio member station KCRW relaunch its mobile app to offer modern features and give users the ability to pause live radio and save music and podcasts to a custom feed.
New Frontier
Devise founder and Chief Executive Dalip Jaggi said talks about a merger started in May, but he was initially hesitant.
“When I was trying to break down why I was against it—it was ego, [Devise] is my baby,” Jaggi said. “But when I think about this next decade of where we are going and software development trends—this is a good merger. Their culture is equivalent in style and nature [to Devise]; they’re all geeks, we don’t have project managers and they don’t have project managers. It was like they’re a bigger version of us. It was perfect.”
Jaggi founded his firm in 2013, helping clients with everything from brand strategy to creating mobile applications for clients, such as Tapatio Hot Sauce, Creamistry and Ingram Micro Inc.
The company debuted at No. 48 on the Business Journal’s list of largest ad agencies in OC last year with $1.3 million in revenue for the 12 months ended December 2017, up 53%.
Jaggi adds that he was also at a crossroads—either doubling its employee count that now stands at about a dozen people, and increase revenue accordingly, or seek the support of a larger firm. He chose the latter.
“I’m an engineer so I like to create things and as I started expressing my interests and where I wanted to take the company Ville said we’ll support you,” he said.
It also allowed the development firm to offer its employees benefits afforded at a larger company, such as higher wages, Jaggi said, who is now Vincit’s head of business innovation.
Houttu said the company is open to making additional acquisitions to help continue its growth.
Its first area acquisition was Irvine-based digital shop Xtopoly, whose project-based clients includes Kellogg’s, Naked Juice Co. and FedEx, last year on undisclosed terms.
For Jaggi, the goal this year will be to ramp up Vincit’s presence in California and, more specifically, Orange County, citing the company’s launch of its nonprofit organization last year aimed at promoting companies producing local software in OC. The venture is called Coded in OC.
“[Orange County] has been late to the game in having software development in our curriculums whether it’s in college or boot camps, but now you see them popping up more,” Jaggi said.
“I think the community can use a thought leader to help spearhead good development practices [and promote] companies that do a lot of development in OC rather than outsourcing … to better our local economy.”
