HiQ acquires Lamia

With the aim of becoming northern Europe's leading tech consulting company, HiQ is now acquiring the digital commerce specialist Lamia. The company, founded in Finland in 2012, specializes in building and designing digital services and multi-channel e-commerce solutions. The acquisition of Lamia will be a strategically important addition to HiQ's investment in retail with its constantly growing business consisting of 90 employees today.

“It is very exciting to welcome Lamia to us at HiQ today! We’ve seen a solid, almost explosive, development in the demand for digital commerce-based solutions. Lamia will, with its deep know-how within design, development, cloud and data and important customers as well as partners, contribute to our continued development in the area,” says Fredrik Malm, acting CEO of HiQ.

Founded in 2012 in Finland, Lamia is a digital transformation company specializing in digital commerce helping customers navigate their journey online by combining relevant technologies, human-centric service, and cutting-edge design. The company delivers sustainable and measurable value with design, software development, cloud, and data with competencies ranging from digital business and e-commerce to pioneering technology. Lamia has for many years been one of the fastest-growing tech companies in Finland. As a company, Lamia values each employee, with a big emphasis on professional development and providing a clear career path. Following the acquisition, Lamia will continue to operate under their own brand as part of the HiQ family.

”Our aim has always been to bring our unique expertise of e-commerce tech, data and design to the market. Being a part of the HiQ family will enable us to continue this path but on a bigger scale, with northern Europe as our playground. Being acquired by HiQ is a significant step for us on our journey and in our development as a company, so we are proud to make this announcement today. With HiQ, we are a perfect match. To unite what we bring to the table, regarding digital transformation and digital commerce, together with HiQ’s comprehensive offering, we will become an incredibly strong team. As a result, we can offer even more career paths and growth for our employees at a level we couldn’t on our own. We are really looking forward to kick things off with HiQ,” says Henri Halmelahti, Co-founder of Lamia.

Retail is one of the industries where rapid technological enhancements have changed the landscape. Thanks to flexible digital services focusing on the user experience and the whole customer journey, trading increases efficiency. HiQ has broad industry knowledge and extensive experience working with leading retail chains. The collaborations range from idea and design to quality assurance in everything from marketing and sales solutions to purchasing and logistical systems. In addition, HiQ's expertise in digital payment services as well as analysis of campaign activities, are valuable when new requirements are placed on simpler purchasing processes to increase conversion rate. Lamia will strengthen HiQ's important positioning in both the B2B and B2C digital commerce space – a segment where digital solutions and omnichannel experiences are accelerating. Together, HiQ and Lamia are able to build robust and scalable omnichannel platforms, from backend systems to user interfaces like native applications, all serving the clients' digital advantage. The team at Lamia also strengthens HiQ's opportunities to deliver digitization as an end-to-end partner – from strategy to design, development, integration, to managed services.

“Lamia’s ability to deliver digital engineering and support their clients in the digital commerce landscape fits very well with our broad knowledge and broad customer segments. Today, we work in close partnership with some of the Nordic region's leading players in retail – everything from global players in the clothing industry, furniture industry and grocery trade – and being able to broaden our offering in this area is fantastic. We will see incredible technology shifts in the coming years, and at HiQ we want to be leading in the development,” says Fredrik Malm, acting CEO of HiQ.

HiQ has built up a strong business and brand on the Finnish market for many years, being a key player within online business, e-business solutions, process integration and quality assurance. The acquisition of Lamia will strengthen HiQ’s position on the Finnish market, especially within digital commerce. For HiQ’s quest to become northern Europe's leading tech consulting company, the acquisition will create more opportunities to scale across borders at a pace that would not have been possible before.

“This is significant for us on the Finnish market. With this acquisition, we are expanding and becoming an even bigger player in Finland. We can meet specific market demands differently and offer even more expertise and manpower locally. We are investing heavily in the region, and this acquisition really proves that the Finnish market is booming when it comes to tech and innovation,” concludes Jukka Rautio, Country Manager at HiQ Finland.