"Tequity more than paid for themselves. Like every other technology company, we were getting inundated regularly with calls from a variety of investors and potential buyers, so when we were getting serious about exploring an exit, we asked ourselves “do we really need to hire and pay for an advisory firm to help us”? After a long internal discussion, our shareholders decided it was worth the “insurance” to use an experienced M&A firm to help us through the process – after all, you only get to sell your company once. We are glad we did and are especially fortunate that we selected Tequity from the firms we evaluated."
Tequity acted as the exclusive financial advisor to JavaScript front-end development firm Dev6 in their strategic acquisition by Aquent, the leading global staffing and recruiting firm for marketing, creative and digital professionals. The Toronto-based firm will be rebranded as Aquent DEV6 and join Aquent Studios, the company’s creative and digital execution agency, in delivering application development and user experience (UX) services to Aquent’s and Vitamin T’s clients. The move reflects Aquent’s continual commitment to delivering innovative solutions and services to support marketing, creative and digital for its clients. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Aquent DEV6 will bring high-end JavaScript development, training, and consulting services to the Aquent Studios, a critical capability as more brands embark on a journey of digital transformation. DEV6’s legacy of developing cutting-edge custom applications synthesizes well with Aquent Studios’ services, adding peerless front-end development services for fast-moving and leading brands. DEV6 brings deep expertise to Aquent Studios, including mobile, web and social media app development using JavaScript, Angular, HTML5 and React. DEV6 customers include Adidas, Facebook, Fiat Chrysler and Mitel.
“Creating innovation and providing leading-edge services to our clients has been a hallmark of Aquent since its founding. DEV6’s expertise in JavaScript, and its popular frameworks, enables us to help clients deliver business-critical mobile and web applications across the enterprise. With DEV6, Aquent is in a better position to provide additional front-end application development services that drive a competitive advantage for our clients” said John Chuang, Chairman and Co-Founder of Aquent.
“Aquent’s history of innovation and its leadership in providing marketing, creative and technical talent to the world’s biggest and best-known brands makes this an exciting time to join them,” said Ed Van Beilen, principal and co-founder of DEV6. “We look forward to helping even more clients build mobile and web applications that not only drive daily operations but create a sustainable competitive advantage.”
Aquent is the world’s largest marketing and creative staffing and recruiting firm, providing total workforce services that range from temporary and permanent staffing to freelancer management and the outsourcing of entire teams. A five-time recipient of Inavero’s Best of Staffing Client Award, Aquent delivers innovative workforce solutions that simultaneously drive marketing results for clients and provide talent with the best career opportunities. Aquent LLC’s divisions — Aquent, Aquent Studios and Vitamin T — span seven countries on four continents. www.aquent.com
DEV6 specializes in the design and JavaScript development of leading-edge UX on enterprise-grade mobile and web applications. Applications built by DEV6 are business-critical to our clients, creating competitive advantage, which often involves virtually every function across the enterprise. DEV6 complements its application development services with consulting and training services that produce scale and greater return on investment for our clients. www.dev6.com
Tequity provides exit, merger, and carve-out advisory services exclusively to mid-market Software, IT Services, and Information Technology companies across North America and around the globe. We assist CEOs and shareholders to find the right strategic buyer and achieve an optimal outcome in a transaction. As business operations and growth specialists who have built companies, raised capital, and successfully exited, we bring real world experience to any M&A discussion.
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