West Monroe acquires Minneapolis digital firm GoKart Labs
West Monroe Partners, a Chicago-based national business and technology consultancy, has acquired GoKart Labs, a Minneapolis-based digital product studio. The acquisition, which completed on October 4, is West Monroe’s largest in its 17-year history.
Founded in 2009, GoKart Labs helps clients design, build, and launch digital businesses and experiences that solve a complex array of business issues. The firm has worked with hundreds of clients across healthcare, financial services, and education, and has cracked the Inc. 5000 list and the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal Fast 50.
West Monroe’s acquisition of GoKart boosts the consultancy’s capabilities in digital product design, giving the national firm a wider array of digital offerings for its clientele.
The addition of GoKart’s 50 employees will double West Monroe’s footprint in Minneapolis. Cofounder Don Smithmier will join as a senior director on the digital team, while cofounder A.J. Meyer will join as an innovation fellow, working on developing market-leading strategy through the lens of innovation.
“GoKart Labs blends business and creative skills to solve business issues and provide greater value and differentiation for their clients, aligning perfectly with our approach for driving value through our uncommon blend of business and technology expertise,” said Greg Layok, managing director of West Monroe’s national technology practice. “When you incorporate GoKart Labs’ iterative design thinking and product expertise into West Monroe’s proven consulting approach and deep-rooted industry teams, our clients will be able to achieve even better returns, faster, for their digital transformation efforts.”
The transaction arrives amid booming demand for transformation services, with enterprises spending $2 trillion on digital transformation technology, according to the IDC. Digital transformation consulting services, meanwhile, saw double-digit growth to reach a market size of $33.1 billion in 2018.
“In West Monroe, we found a company that shares our values and entrepreneurial spirit, while also bringing a huge array of complementary skills to help scale the important work we do for category-leading clients,” said Don Smithmier.
The deal is the second acquisition of the year for West Monroe, which in April acquired Chicago-based Waterstone, a consultancy focused on private equity and tech firms.
West Monroe has over 1,400 employees across nine US offices, covering major markets from New York to Los Angeles. The employee-owned, full-service consulting firm has annual revenues of $350 million.
