Within just 2 days in August 2020, Serbian tech scene saw 2 big acquisitions, one by Serbian and one by an international company, raising more questions about the future of small service companies in the post COVID-19 world.
Until recently, Serbian IT service sector was referred to as superbly fragmented, with a large number of relatively small players, compared to Central and East Europe. But, the trends in August 2020 may indicate a start of a new era of consolidation.
Endava buys Comtrade Digital Services
Comtrade Group sold its business division Digital Services (CDS) to Endava. Endava helps its clients in digital transformation based on user experience, from idea to development and implementation of platforms and solutions. This “joining of forces” will produce positive effects for Comtrade, that will further develop and implement the technology of Endava through its system integration, business unit in Boston and HICU from Manila, as Comtrade declared on their website. Endava had over 6,468 employees in its R&D centers in Romania, Moldavia, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela and Colombia. CDS has over 460 highly qualified engineers in Slovenia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
HTEC buys Execom
Serbian R&D company HTEC bought another Serbian service company, Execom. This acquisition will help HTEC expand its business from America, UK and Scandinavia to the rest of Europe and create a consulting-engineering machine. They will have over 600 employees, after the acquisition is finalized with no intention of COVID-19 slowing them down. HTEC is one of the largest IT companies in the country that grew very fast since 2008. Execom from Novi Sad was renowned as one of the oldest, stoic companies of its kind in Serbia, founded back in 1995.
