Avanade, the Accenture and Microsoft joint venture, has agreed to acquire Manchester-based Robiquity for an undisclosed sum. The 10-year-old automation specialist took investment from Growth Capital Partners in 2022, when it employed about 100 people.
Robiquity was founded in 2016 by Tom Gardner and Jack Rimmer to meet demand for robotic process automation. It has since moved to building on Microsoft's own stack, including Power Platform, Copilot and Azure, and more recently agentic AI.
Tom Davies has been chief executive since 2020. The team holds more than 200 Microsoft certifications and delivers projects through what it calls a Solution Factory model. Clients include EVRi, NHS Scotland, the Ministry of Justice, Virgin Media O2, WebBeds and Greater Manchester Police.
The deal was announced on Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed, and completion is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals.
Robiquity's cap table changed in July 2022, when private equity firm Growth Capital Partners (GCP) invested and provided all the funding for the transaction at completion. The size of the investment and of GCP's stake were not disclosed.
At the time, Robiquity was growing at a compound annual rate of 75% and had operations in North America and the Middle East. GCP brought in a chair and a chief financial officer from its network and backed new offices in Leeds and London.
Gardner left the business after the GCP deal but kept a minority stake, according to reports in 2024, which put Robiquity's turnover at about £10m. Neither side has said how the proceeds will be split among shareholders.
Much of Robiquity's recent profile comes from Scotland. Working with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, it built a Power Platform tool that moves the multidisciplinary team meetings where cancer cases are reviewed onto a single digital system.
The company estimates the tool saves 15,600 hours of clinician time a year across the West of Scotland Cancer Network. Versions for dermatology, haematology and breast cancer are in development, and other Scottish cancer networks have shown interest.
Avanade, headquartered in Seattle with an office in Edinburgh, works with more than 7,000 organisations and has about 60,000 Microsoft professionals worldwide. It said the deal expands its ability to help UK mid-market and enterprise clients adopt AI and automation, adding capability in agentic AI, low-code development and automation delivery.
"Robiquity has built something special, a team with deep Microsoft expertise," said Chris Howarth, chief executive of Avanade. Davies called the move "a natural next step for our business", saying it would take Robiquity's work to more clients and markets.
The purchase follows Avanade's UK acquisitions of Altius Consulting in 2020 and Microsoft business applications specialist QUANTIQ in 2022. It comes as Avanade's own research finds that 61% of UK organisations do not believe the returns from AI justify the investment.
Original source: FutureScot — https://futurescot.com/avanade-to-acquire-robiquity-the-ai-firm-working-with-nhs-scotland-on-cancer-care/
