American technology consultancy firm Thoughtworks has acquired Connected (formerly Connected Lab), a Toronto-based product development service company. Thoughtworks did not disclose the financial details of this transaction.
The deal will see Connected enhance the Thoughtworks customer experience, product, and design service line in North America. Connected’s entire team will join Thoughtworks, including its CEO and co-founder Mike Stern, as well as Tammy Chiasson, its president.
Chiasson will be taking on the role as Thoughtworks’ managing director of Canada and will report to Chris Murphy, CEO of Thoughtworks North America. All existing projects at Connected will continue to be led and delivered by the Connected team.
Thoughtworks is also expanding its physical Canadian footprint with this acquisition. With a Toronto office already established on John Street since 2001, Thoughtworks plans to consolidate its office with Connected’s headquarters. This move would bring Thoughtworks’ Canadian employee base to around 200.
Founded in 2014 by Stern and Damian McCabe, Connected was established with the aim to help companies build software-powered products. The company’s customer base includes brands such as Bose, iHeartMedia, and Ford, as well as the Royal Bank of Canada and Capital One.
Though the company was created in 2014, Connected didn’t emerge from stealth mode until 2015. Stern previously told BetaKit that the gap that Connected was looking to fill is guiding brands and companies on how to build products in line with the rising popularity of Internet-of-Things devices.
“When you build a great connected experience, customers love it. Customer loyalty turns into a competitive advantage – we have seen that with Apple, Uber and Tesla. Any company that’s building software today needs to think about the connected experience,” he said.
When Connected was created, its workforce partly came from mobile software development shop Xtreme Labs.
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Prior to Connected, Stern was an early employee of Xtreme Labs, which was acquired by Pivotal in 2013 for $60 million USD.
