In its second deal of 2022, PwC has acquired Pollen8, a London-based boutique innovation consulting firm.
Founded in 2016, Pollen8 is a consultancy focused on strategy and design services in the innovation space, underpinned by its own SaaS platform to help customers create new concepts and solutions and embed a culture of innovation. The 16-strong consultancy works for clients including Oracle, GKN, The British Red Cross, and Vodafone.
Pollen8 becomes part of PwC’s Commercial Technology practice, which helps clients nationally and internationally with developing and building new business models, and with commercialising these models.
Tom Lewis, partner and head of PwC’s Commercial Technology practice, said: “We’re delighted that Pollen8 is joining PwC. The combination of their innovation expertise and the platform will enhance and complement our existing capabilities and help us better meet our client’s needs. This acquisition is in line with our global strategy, The New Equation, where we look to invest in skills, new capabilities and technology to solve our clients’ problems.”
The deal – financial terms of the transaction have not been disclosed – comes four months after PwC acquired Coventry-based supply chain technology specialist Olivehorse (the deal closed mid-February).
The transaction is the most recent evidence of the growing acquisitive appetites of the large consulting firms in the UK & Ireland. In 2022, EY bought Blackdot (an Australian firm with a team of 18 in the UK) and Irish technology consultancy Client Solutions, Accenture bolted-on sustainability consultancy Avieco, KPMG acquired construction consultancy KMCS, and Deloitte picked up Retain.
