LaunchPad Lab Announces Strategic Acquisition of Kohactive, Forming World-Class Software Development Agency

Merger brings together top Chicago studios to deliver deep expertise in digital product strategy, design and development.

CHICAGO—(December 9, 2020)—LaunchPad Lab, a Chicago-based software development agency that helps companies transform their digital experience through custom software, announces the acquisition of Kohactive, a digital product studio specializing in building software applications for web and mobile. The acquisition brings together two like-minded agencies, expanding the team of senior level designers and developers to more than 30 and deepens the expertise and services the agency can offer. The acquisition closed in early October 2020.

“Prior to the merger, we had a long-standing relationship with Kohactive and now that we’re a couple months in, our team is creating incredible value for our shared clients,” said Ryan Francis, Partner and Chief Executive Officer of LaunchPad Lab. “LaunchPad has always taken a unique approach to projects compared to other digital agencies by using a strategic product-building approach that goes beyond just writing code. We work with the customer to map out the full product experience and this drives real results for our clients. We found that mentality in Kohactive, too, so the acquisition felt really natural.”

Kohactive brings its experienced design and development team to LaunchPad Lab, along with a respected client roster. LaunchPad Lab has grown revenue by 75 percent year-to-date in 2020 and the combination of the two agencies is poised to deliver an additional 50 percent revenue growth in 2021, which reflects both the addition of Kohactive legacy clients and new opportunities that a larger team makes possible.

“Beyond just doing great work, we align with LaunchPad at a mission and values level. We couldn’t have found an organization that we are more in sync with than LaunchPad,” stated John Koht, founder of Kohactive and current Vice President of Client Strategy for LaunchPad Lab. “This is the next step in our mission to help companies build their future through high-quality, custom software and enables us to exponentially grow our expertise and team within an organization that is completely aligned with the way that we have always done business. It’s an exciting time to be a part of the company.” 

LaunchPad Lab brings its innovative, lean, agile approach to a wide variety of clients, having built long-term relationships and custom software solutions for companies as varied as Empower Illinois, National Futures Association, Northwestern University, Whirlpool, Groupon and many more. Based on the quality of client reviews, positive brand recognition and visibility in the market, LaunchPad Lab has recently been awarded a place in the top one percent of global B2B service providers by market research firm Clutch. 

Francis continued, “We are so excited to see the first results of the work done by our combined LaunchPad and Kohactive organizations come to fruition in Q4 2020. Because both of our teams already used the same technologies and approach, there is no learning curve. We have hit the ground running, effectively shortening the time to launch for projects that were in process, which gives us every confidence that this model will provide great value to both our clients and our people.” 

About LaunchPad Lab

LaunchPad Lab is a Chicago-based software development agency that partners with businesses to transform their digital technology. Focused on using software to propel businesses forward, LaunchPad has helped hundreds of organizations unlock revenue and efficiency by transforming their technology. LaunchPad deploys small, cross-functional teams of in-house product builders to bring a deep level of collaboration and critical thinking to every project. This approach was designed to deliver outcomes, rather than just outputs, and is one of the core reasons why over 90 percent of LaunchPad’s clients work with them for the long-term.

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