Enduring Ventures buys Merkle's Salesforce arm, reviving the Davanti brand
What's the deal? Merkle Aotearoa has rebranded to Davanti Consulting after US-based investment firm Enduring VenturesDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → acquired Merkle's Salesforce practices in New Zealand and Australia. The move reunifies those practices and returns the business to the independent identity it held before adopting the Merkle name four years ago.
The timeline: Enduring Ventures signed a definitive agreement with Dentsu in May to buy Merkle Aotearoa and Merkle Australia's Salesforce business. Dentsu had owned Davanti since 2019, and the transaction closed on June 30.
Why now? "We stepped out of Dentsu into an independent business on 1 July," said Davanti A/NZ managing director Paul Whittaker. "We've still been operating as Merkle for the last month, but as of [Wednesday, 22 July] we rebranded as Davanti."
Because Merkle Aotearoa owned the Davanti intellectual property and trademarks, the rebrand became straightforward — though Whittaker said other options were considered before the team, customers, and partners settled on the return.
What's the endgame? Whittaker framed the change as a step beyond implementation work toward strategy, customer experience, and AI and data services. "The name Davanti means 'forward' and reflects both where we are today and where we're heading," he said.
What changes for customers? Little, according to Whittaker. "It's the same team, the same people they're used to working with and the same quality service," he said, adding the business will be "more agile, more nimble" now that it has exited global corporate ownership.
Salesforce remains central, though Davanti works with other technology partners where needed. Enduring Ventures, Whittaker said, gives the company "the platform to look at what the future might be" and to bring AI and innovation into client work.
The signal: The deal reflects continued reshuffling of Salesforce consulting practices, with an independent investor carving a specialist unit out of a global agency group. For a regional player, exiting a multinational owner is a bet that focus and agility beat scale.
Image credit: Generated with Gemini
