Houlihan Lokey Advises Launch Consulting Group

Houlihan Lokey is pleased to announce that Launch Consulting Group (Launch), a portfolio company of TA Group Holdings (TAG), has been acquired by The Planet Group, a portfolio company of Odyssey Investment Partners. The transaction closed on July 15, 2022.

Founded in 2005, Launch is a digital consultancy helping organizations transform their business through intelligent operations, customer and employee engagement, and enhanced products and services. The firm provides consulting solutions and services across architecture, data and AI, software engineering, and cloud and infrastructure. Launch has over 600 team members and has offices across the U.S. as well as in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Hyderabad, India. Its client roster of world-recognized brands includes Facebook, Microsoft, Expedia, and VSP.

Launch Consulting navigates world-class organizations through digital transformation—specifically, empowering people by helping them to harness data, implement modern technology, and enhance the human experience so they can thrive in a digital-first world. From developing modern platforms to crafting personalized apex experiences, Launch helps leaders make bold moves backed by confidence.

TA Group Holdings is a private equity firm with investments focused primarily in technology, consulting, staffing, and consumer goods. TAG targets lower-middle-market investments using operating cash flows from current holding companies to fuel organic growth. TAG invests in people first, consistently creating opportunities that enable emerging business leaders to accelerate their companies to the next level via mentorship, strategic planning, and consolidated services. TAG is committed to constant, dynamic growth and advancing individual careers while placing a high value on quality of life and contribution to the community at large.

The Planet Group consists of a group of related global consulting organizations and renowned staffing brands and has been purposefully built to address the professional services needs of leading companies in the technology, diversified energy and engineering, infrastructure, accounting and finance, human resources, healthcare, and digital marketing areas. The company was founded in 2009 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with offices throughout the U.S. and Europe.

Odyssey Investment Partners, with offices in New York and Los Angeles, is a leading private equity investment firm with a more than 25-year history of partnering with skilled managers to transform middle-market companies into more efficient and diversified businesses with strong growth profiles. Odyssey makes majority-controlled investments in industries with a long-term positive outlook and favorable secular trends.

Houlihan Lokey served as exclusive financial advisor to Launch in connection with the transaction.

Houlihan Lokey’s IT Services team is among the most active M&A advisors in the market, having closed 11 transactions in the past 12 months. This most recent transaction further strengthens Houlihan Lokey’s leadership in the digital engineering universe and highlights its continued momentum and leadership in the IT services sector, which includes digital transformation, cloud services, data analytics, and IT resourcing.