HCLTech to acquire French firm for €24 mn to expand data analytics biz

Indian IT services firm HCLTech's arm HCLSoftware on Friday said, it plans to acquire a 100 per cent stake in France-based software firm Zeenea SAS at a valuation of 24 million euros (around ₹220 crore or $26.2 million), to expand its data and analytics business offerings.

The all-cash deal is expected to be completed in September 2024, according to a regulatory filing by HCLTech.

Founded in 2017, Zeenea is headquartered in Paris, France with subsidiaries in Belgium and the US. The firm provides an intelligent data discovery platform that supports metadata management applications from search and exploration to data catalogue, lineage, governance, compliance and enterprise data marketplace.

In other words, Zeenea enables organisations to democratise data access and generate a 360-degree view of their assets and the relationships between them.

HCLSoftware Chief Product Officer Kalyan Kumar said that the acquisition will enable the firm to offer a unified data intelligence solution that will power enterprises to discover, govern, connect, manage and better leverage data in their data engineering and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) journeys.

HCLSoftware Actian data platform has seen strong growth in hybrid data management and integration over the last few years. Adding metadata management, data catalog and governance capabilities will enable customers to consume these capabilities of the data platform, the statement added.

“Zeenea's data catalogue and governance capabilities will extend our portfolio to offer a comprehensive, single-vendor solution to meet all the data needs of today's data-driven enterprises," said Marc Potter, CEO Actian & Portfolio General Manager of HCLSoftware's Data and Analytics business.

Luc Legardeur, CEO and cofounder of Zeenea said that incorporating Zeenea’s capabilities with HCLSoftware will deliver a differentiated solution for customers and offer customers a tailored approach to data management.
In July, HCLTech posted a 20.46 per cent year-on-year (YoY) jump in net profit at ₹4,257 crore for the June quarter compared with ₹3,534 crore in the same quarter last year.

Revenue for the quarter grew 6.7 per cent Y-o-Y at ₹28,057 crore. On a sequential basis, revenue growth was down 1.6 per cent.