This is the fifth acquisition for PA in 18 months and its second in the United States, following the acquisition of Essential Design, a Boston-based innovation strategy and product design consultancy, in October 2018. It follows PA’s acquisition of Sparkler, a digital customer insight and strategy consultancy, We Are Friday, a digital service design and engineering agency, and Nyras, a specialist aviation consultancy.
4iNNO’s ability to deliver world-class strategy, consumer insights and research and development work to create new growth for clients complements PA’s global capabilities in strategy, innovation, and new product development. PA’s team supports world-leading ingenuity such as Virgin Hyperloop One’s reinvention of transportation, Skipping Rocks Lab’s sustainable plastic alternatives, and Monica Healthcare’s, part of the GE Healthcare family, innovative wearable devices that monitor the health of unborn babies at home and in the hospital.
Fundamental changes in consumer buying behaviours are transforming consumer goods and retail markets globally. To keep up, manufacturers and retailers must innovate – whether it’s sustainable products, direct-to-consumer initiatives or just bringing new products to market fasterIn a world where strategies, technologies and innovation collide, PA and 4iNNO’s combined capabilities will help clients create competitive advantage by taking initial ideas through to development and commercialisation.
Ken Toombs, Head of Americas at PA Consulting, says: “We are delighted to welcome the 4iNNO team to PA Consulting. We have a long-standing heritage of working in the consumer sector, across both consumer goods manufacturers, brand owners and retailers. The 4iNNO team will add further scale and depth to our existing consumer and innovation expertise, as well as enhancing our Americas presence. This is an exciting addition to PA and supports us as we use the power of ingenuity to build a positive human future in a technology-driven world.”
4iNNO’s CEO Jim Barrett comments: “We are excited to be joining PA Consulting and look forward to bringing our broad range of skills to help large companies create new growth. PA has the rare focus in consulting to deliver innovative yet tangible solutions with measurable impact, done in a collaborative way with major companies.”
4iNNO Founder Larry Huston adds: “We are proud of the powerful firm we have created, the team we have assembled and the potential that now exists to go forward with PA.”
The terms of the asset-based transaction were not disclosed.