US software development company Rally Software has acquired Finnish Flowdock. Helsinki-based Flowdock, with all of its employees, will become Rally’s first international research and development center.
– Innovative thinking and cutting-edge technology have long been a Finnish strength. Finland has specific technologies and products with global reach, said Todd Olson, Rally’s vice president of products.
– Helsinki is also home to one of the European Institute of Innovation & Technology’s six labs. They aid in accelerating the speed at which ideas can be transformed into products, making it easier for products to make the leap from lab to market, and encourage product innovators to become entrepreneurs. Flowdock’s founders are part of this movement. They are experienced software developers and entrepreneurs, added Olson.
Flowdock has developed a social web-based collaboration tool for software development teams. It uses group chat and integrates with other teamwork tools. Flowdock’s product will be included in Rally’s product portfolio as an independent service.
Flowdock’s nine employees will continue to work at Rally’s new international R&D facility, and the company is about to move to considerably larger premises in downtown Helsinki.
– We had actually planned to raise more funding to expand Flowdock’s business operations but our partnership with Rally led to a purchase offer that both parties were very happy with, said Flowdock’s founder Otto Hilska.
Rally Software offers agile software development and management services. Flowdock’s social collaboration hub for teams fits well into Rally’s product portfolio. Together the products help globally distributed organizations keep in flow and prioritize work across tools, teams and time zones.
– Rally has always ranked high in listings of great places to work in the US. In Finland, Rally will be an interesting employer in the software development business. We make products that we ourselves want to use and they also have a fanatic global user base, said Otto Hilska.
