HCLSoftware, the software business division of IT services firm HCLTech, intends to acquire AI data analyst agents startup Wobby for €4.5 million (about $5.3 million) in cash, the company said on Monday.
The Antwerp, Belgium-based early-age startup was founded in 2023 and provides AI data analyst agents for data warehouses. It reported an annual revenue of €0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2024.
The acquisition is driven by increased demand for HCLSoftware’s data and AI division (Actian), for its metadata management, data catalog and data governance solutions, the company said in a statement.
This would be HCLTech’s second acquisition this month, after the third-largest service provider’s asset purchase of HPE’s Telco Solutions business in the previous week, and the third buyout overall in 2025 so far.
The intended acquisition adds Wobby’s agentic AI data analyst capabilities to the GenAI adoption journey of Actian’s customers, enabling users to query complex datasets through a natural language interface and receive actionable insights instantly, the company said.
“Customers want self-service analytics with AI-driven insights that they can trust,” said Marc Potter, chief executive of Actian and portfolio general manager of HCLSoftware’s data and AI division. “With Wobby, Actian provides LLM-powered natural-language analytics on a unified, governed semantic layer, enabling self-service analytics.”
The transaction is likely to be completed by February 2026, subject to receiving the Belgian foreign direct investment (FDI) approval under the Cooperation Agreement dated November 30, 2022.
HCLSoftware will pay €3.0 million at the ‘closing’ of the transaction, and €0.75 million each at the first and second anniversary of the closing, the company said.
“Combining Wobby’s capabilities with Actian Data Intelligence platform will offer customers a differentiated approach to data management,” said Amra Dorjbayar, chief executive and co-founder, Wobby.
