Accenture acquires Flutura to boost industrial AI services

Accenture on Tuesday said that it was acquiring Flutura, an internet of things (IoT) and data science services providing firm, for an undisclosed sum to boost its industrial AI services that it sells under the umbrella of Applied Intelligence.

The acquisition assumes significance as the Asia Pacific region contributes the largest chunk of Accenture’s Applied Intelligence offering at 70%, according to Gartner. Other regions such as EMEA, North America and Latin America contribute 15%, 10% and 5% respectively.

“Flutura’s acquisition will power industrial AI-led transformation for our clients globally and particularly in Australia, South-East Asia, Japan, Africa, India, Latin America and the Middle East,” Senthil Ramani, senior managing director at Accenture, said in a press note.

Accenture also leads the industrial AI services market followed by Deloitte, according to a Gartner analysis conducted in 2022. The market research firm, which clubs these services as data and analytics (D&A) services, expects its market to reach $232 billion globally by the end of 2024.

As part of its Applied Intelligence services, Accenture offers data-led transformation services along with AI-based solutions that it brands as Solutions.AI. Other services include consulting and ensuring deployment of responsible AI solutions.

Accenture plans to bring Flutura’s capabilities to clients in the energy, chemicals, metals, mining, and pharmaceutical industries, the companies said in a joint statement.

“Flutura democratizes AI for engineers, enabling manufacturing and other asset-intensive companies with the carbon intelligence to reduce emissions, energy consumption and lost output due to unplanned downtime of industrial assets, said Ramani.

Flutura’s capabilities includes AI platform Cerebra that supports self-service analytics from disparate IT systems or data sources, solutions for process, asset management and energy efficiency.

Flutura also offers connected assets, connected processes, Vision Intelligence, Engineer’s Workbench as its core product offerings.

Bengaluru-based Flutura, which was incorporated in 2012, was founded by Derick Jose, Krishnan Raman, and Srikanth Muralidhara. The company, which has raised $8.5 million in investment, was part of Microsoft Accelerator in Bengaluru. Its lead investors include HPE Digital Catalyst program, Vertex Ventures, Hitachi High-Technologies and Lumis Partners.