HCL Technologies subsidiary HCLSoftware announced its intent to acquire Croatia-based Robotiq.ai for €9 million, a move aimed at boosting its agentic automation capabilities.

Acquisition overview

The planned acquisition targets Robotiq.ai, a Croatia-headquartered company, at a deal value of €9 million. The transaction is intended to strengthen HCLSoftware's position in the agentic automation space. The acquisition is expected to close in November 2026.

Strategic context

HCLSoftware, the software products division of HCL Technologies, is pursuing this acquisition to expand its agentic automation offerings. Robotiq.ai provides an enterprise robotic process automation (RPA) platform used in large banks, insurance groups, and telecom providers. The platform features ISO-certified security, audit logs, and flexible deployment options.

The acquisition adds enterprise RPA capabilities to HCL UnO Agentic, strengthening end-to-end orchestration across AI agents and enterprise applications. This allows AI-driven workflows to automate tasks in applications where APIs are unavailable or insufficient, extending orchestration from decision-making to execution.

Financial details of target

Robotiq.ai was incorporated on August 21, 2018. The company reported revenues of €1.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2025, up from €0.9 million in both 2024 and 2023. For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, the company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of €0.2 million and a net worth of €0.8 million. The acquisition involves 100% cash consideration for 100% of the outstanding equity, to be acquired by HCL Technologies Austria GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of HCLTech.

What the numbers show

The acquisition price of €9 million represents a significant multiple relative to Robotiq.ai’s reported financials. With FY25 revenue of €1.4 million, the enterprise value implies a revenue multiple of approximately 6.4x. Furthermore, the purchase price is roughly 11 times the target’s reported net worth of €0.8 million and 45 times its PAT of €0.2 million. This valuation reflects the strategic premium placed on integrating specialized RPA technology into HCLSoftware’s broader AI orchestration platform rather than standalone financial performance.

HCL Technologies Limited released a first-of-its-kind AI-based synthetic research study on September 28, 2026, highlighting a critical readiness gap in the global wealth management industry. The report finds that while 84% of firms acknowledge the need for an operating model reset, less than 10% are prepared to execute the shift.

The study, titled "Hidden In Pl(AI)n Sight," utilized 1,066 representative AI personas modeled on senior decision-makers across 17 global markets. It reveals that although 98% of leadership teams are actively pursuing an AI agenda, only slightly more than 7% are actively building agentic AI capabilities. This disparity underscores that AI transformation is currently hindered by structural inertia rather than a lack of technological interest.

Key blind spots identified

The research identifies three critical blind spots preventing wealth management firms from converting AI enthusiasm into measurable business outcomes:

1. Ambition blind spot: Firms recognize the need for transformation but continue to fund AI primarily for efficiency gains rather than strategic redesign.
2. Execution blind spot: Significant investments in technology are not mirrored by investments in proprietary client data and insights, which are essential for competitive advantage.
3. Strategy blind spot: Firms track AI adoption rates but fail to measure its impact on growth, revenue, and client value.

Srinivasan Seshadri, Chief Growth Officer and Global Head of Financial Services at HCLTech, noted that the industry faces a "choices problem" rather than an investment problem. He highlighted that while 84% of leaders want a fundamental redesign, just 12% are measuring the new revenue that such a redesign should produce.

Regional readiness disparities

The study indicates varying levels of confidence across different geographies regarding the orchestration of AI, human expertise, and ecosystem partners. Executives ranked first-party and behavioral data as a more valuable differentiator than technology infrastructure or cloud platforms.

This divergence suggests that European firms may lag behind their APAC and North American counterparts in integrating AI with human expertise effectively.

What the numbers show

A significant divergence exists between strategic intent and operational measurement. While nearly all leadership teams (98%) have an active AI agenda, the low adoption of agentic AI (7%) combined with the lack of revenue impact tracking (12%) indicates that most initiatives remain superficial. The data suggests that without shifting focus from efficiency to fundamental redesign, the majority of investments will fail to generate measurable business outcomes.

Methodology and partnership

Conducted in partnership with Evidenza, the report represents one of the wealth management industry's most comprehensive applications of synthetic research to date. The methodology employed AI at scale for speed and breadth, while subject matter experts validated findings to ensure credibility. Jill Kouri, Global Chief Marketing Officer at HCLTech, described this approach as a demonstration of responsible AI in action, combining machine scale with human judgment.

The report concludes that lasting competitive advantage will come from firms that combine AI with their most unique assets: decades of proprietary client knowledge, human expertise, and strong ecosystem partnerships.