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Advania extends AI skills with Evolv buy
Channel player adds Icelandic business to the portfolio as it looks to deepen autonomous capabilities
The move by Advania to bolster its artificial intelligence (AI) skills with the acquisition of Icelandic player Evolv Robotics should have an impact on the wider business as knowledge and best practices are shared.
Evolv comes with 30 automation engineers that have experience in designing and delivering transformative tools and processes for business customers. The lessons they have learned will now be shared across Advania’s organisation, accelerating its ability to deliver AI and automation services.
As well as the staff, the deal also adds a business that has built up a customer base across Iceland that tops 100, delivering services in various areas, including workflows and financial operations.
The challenges that Evolv has helped its customers overcome are universal, with users looking for support in increasing the adoption of AI and the introduction of automation to make a positive difference and drive greater efficiences.
“Our clients are asking for help navigating AI, but they need more than infrastructure,” said Henrik Foyn-Laukvik, head of M&A at Advania.
“They need partners who can help them identify where AI creates value, implement it in ways that actually work, and ensure it operates within their data sovereignty and compliance requirements. Evolv’s team brings the automation engineering expertise that turns AI infrastructure into deployed solutions.”
The plan is for Evolv to continue operating as an autonomous unit focusing on automation, with Advania Iceland. The firm’s management team will be staying on board as part of the acquisition.
Sovereign AI infrastructure
Davíð Stefánsson, one of the founders of Evolv, said joining Advania would give the business access to its sovereign AI infrastructure, which would appeal to customers.
“We’ve always been building toward more intelligent automation that can handle ambiguity, process natural language, and make contextual decisions,” he said.
Advania has been using M&A to deepen its presence across Norther Europe, but the Evolv move marks the first time it has made a move in Iceland for more than a decade.
Hege Støre, CEO of Advania, said the deal extended the skilled support it could offer in the country: “The Evolv team represents a new generation of technology specialists in Iceland. Their ambition and agility bring valuable momentum to Advania Iceland, while their specialist expertise in automation further strengthens our overall capabilities.”
Advania hit the headlines earlier this month after appointing Ian Goodfellow as UK managing director, tasking the former SHI, Softcat and Computacenter staffer with taking the business into its next phase.
The increasing shift in demand for autonomous processes, supported by AI, has been spotted elsewhere in the industry, with LogicMonitor deciding now is the time to cut the ribbon on a programme covering that area.
The firm is kicking off a select launch of its Autonomous IT Innovation Programme, before making it more widely available later this year.
The offering should make it easier for IT teams to use AI to monitor and respond more intelligently to operational risk by taking a different approach to system monitoring.
“The future of IT operations is not dashboard-centric: it is AI-centric,” said Garth Fort, chief product officer at LogicMonitor. “This is our commitment to redesigning how teams work around AI-native workflows so they can act earlier, operate more intelligently, and ultimately automate more of the work required to keep modern digital businesses running.”
