This week IBM announced the acquisition of Hakkoda, the Tercera-backed consultancy that, in less than four years, has become one of the preeminent leaders in data and AI.
IBM’s press release and this blog from Hakkoda CEO, Erik Duffield, have all the details for why this is such a great match for both companies. But here’s the short version:
Hakkoda’s deep-rooted partnerships with data platform providers like Snowflake, its industry depth, and its asset-embedded delivery model will extend IBM’s already rich portfolio of data and AI services.
On the flip side, Hakkoda now has a global platform that will allow them to expand into new verticals and regions, and stay on the leading edge of data and AI – solving problems for the largest companies and governmental agencies in the world.
As Hakkoda CEO Erik Duffield puts it: “IBM is not just one of the best known names in tech—they’re a 100+ year old startup, leading in AI, quantum and cloud. Their investment in innovation is unmatched. We won’t just be observing the biggest transformation in history, we will be in the arena shaping it.”
As Hakkoda CEO Erik Duffield puts it: “IBM is not just one of the best known names in tech—they’re a 100+ year old startup, leading in AI, quantum and cloud. Their investment in innovation is unmatched. We won’t just be observing the biggest transformation in history, we will be in the arena shaping it.”
Effective immediately, Hakkoda will start to operate as Hakkoda, an IBM company, with its leadership and focus on Snowflake remaining – something that was incredibly important to the Hakkoda team. The opportunity and impact Hakkoda can make just got a lot bigger.
A company built for greatness starts with a trusted team
We often get asked how Hakkoda became so successful in such a short period of time. How it went from a glimmer of an idea in 2021, to a 300+ person consultancy with global delivery capabilities across LATAM, India and EMEA in 2025.
This is a company that won three-straight Partner of the Year awards from Snowflake in its four years of existence, most recently being named Snowflake’s Healthcare & Life Sciences Partner of the Year. Not to mention receiving Partner of the Year awards from Coalesce, Fivetran and Matillion, plus awards from CIO, IDC and others.
Like most great companies, it starts with the people.
The leadership team that Erik assembled was purpose built to scale. A team uniquely suited to grow an enterprise-grade technology and consulting organization, with past roles at large global SIs like McKinsey, Deloitte and KPMG as well as high growth tech firms like Appirio. Their unique balance of skills, coupled with a strong foundation of mutual trust, meant they could move faster than most.
Trust is like grease in a wheel. Without it, gears grind, progress slows and whole systems seize up. With it, teams can operate more efficiently, solve problems faster and GSD. The fact that 6 of the 8 C-level leaders had worked together before and the co-founders literally climbed a mountain together certainly helps with the trust factor.
Trust is like grease in a wheel. Without it, gears grid, progress slows and whole systems seize up. With it, teams can operate more efficiently, solve problems faster and GSD.
Yet it’s the team around these leaders that has truly shaped the company’s trajectory. Hakkoda consistently attracts some of the best and brightest talent in data and AI – from the interns they hire out of school to their seasoned industry leaders. Hakkoda’s unique culture, and the entrepreneurial spirit woven into the company’s employee base, has kept it one step ahead in data and AI, a space where others are finding it hard to keep pace. It’s not a happy accident that one of Hakkoda’s co-founders is a Chief Talent, Culture and Wellness Officer.
Hakkoda consistently attracts some of the best and brightest talent in data and AI – from the interns they hire out of school to their seasoned industry leaders.
5 lessons from Hakkoda’s success
Beyond having the right team, here are 5 other lessons from Hakkoda’s success that other growth-stage services leaders may want to factor into their own plans:
1. Build – don’t just buy – talent. From its inception, Hakkoda has taken a programmatic approach to acquiring and developing global talent. The company’s investment in university partnerships, learning & development, nearshore delivery centers in Costa Rica, India and Portugal, has formed a talent flywheel that benefits the company, customers, and employees who have been able to grow with the company.
2. Invest in go-to-market. Hakkoda’s early and intentional investment in a cohesive GTM strategy and a well run sales, marketing and alliance management function paid off in spades. Hakkoda’s brand and thought leadership, the partner relationships it fostered, and the company’s clear vertical focus played a big role in the company’s growth and reputation among potential acquirers.
3. Leverage AI early and often. Not surprising for the space they play in, Hakkoda has been at the forefront of incorporating AI into their internal processes and customer offerings. Hakkoda’s AI powered assets and solutions have been able to speed data modernization projects, complement their consultants’ deep domain expertise, and enable their internal teams to scale.
4. Pick a lane, but keep your options open. From Day 1, Hakkoda has been laser focused on Snowflake. That purity of focus, along with their willingness to say no to competitive work, helped them stand out with Snowflake. But their breadth of data expertise and the competencies and partnerships they built with companies like AWS, Alation, Fivetran, Coalesce, Matillion, Sigma and data.world (to name a few) is what won them a place with largest customers and future growth.
5. Select your partners wisely. Growing a services business isn’t easy – there will inevitably be ups and downs so having the right partners alongside you that are aligned with your goals can make a big difference. The Tercera and Hakkoda partnership worked well because we were aligned from the start on the market opportunity, timeline, vision and where value could be created.
That also applies to your extended group of partners. The support that our own long-term partner Trilantic has provided Tercera over the years, along with the support from Advisors like Guggenheim Partners throughout this process has been invaluable.
We could expand on these lessons for days, and maybe one day we will. But for now, we couldn’t be more excited to have been part of this journey with Hakkoda, but we’re even more excited to see what this team does next with a global platform behind them.
For them, it’s just the beginning.
