INTLOOP buys marketing consultancy Underworks to boost AI-driven DX
What's the deal? Tokyo-based consulting firm INTLOOPDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → has acquired the shares of Underworks, a digital marketing consultancy also headquartered in Tokyo, bringing it into the INTLOOP group. Founded in 2006 by former AccentureDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom → consultant Manabu Tajima, Underworks specialises in marketing strategy, CX design, and the selection and deployment of marketing technology such as MA, CRM, and CDP systems. Deal terms were not disclosed.
What's the endgame? INTLOOP wants to combine its consulting expertise with system implementation to strengthen its digital transformation (DX) support. The acquisition advances its "VISION2030" plan to become an integrated solutions platform blending advanced technology and talent by its July 2030 fiscal year.
Why now? Demand is rising for embedding generative AI into marketing processes, building data platforms like CRM and CDP, and advancing marketing technology. INTLOOP sees the two firms as complementary and the sector as one of sustained growth.
What's the play for AI? As generative AI automates downstream marketing operations, INTLOOP is betting the upstream work — strategy design and data planning — resists automation because it requires cross-industry knowledge and client trust. The group plans to package Underworks' expertise into task-specific AI agents and AI BPO services, moving beyond the traditional per-person-month billing model.
The company expects synergies through cross-selling between the two client bases, supplying delivery resources from INTLOOP's talent network of roughly 57,000 professionals, and using its listed-group credibility to expand deals.
"Underworks' 20 years of upstream expertise and client base will be the starting point for implementing AI-centric marketing," said INTLOOP chief executive officer Hirofumi Hayashi.
Tajima said the firm joined the group "to deliver this value at an even higher level to more companies" as the AI agent era arrives.
The signal: The deal reflects a wider consolidation in Japan's consulting market, where firms are racing to fuse human advisory work with AI tooling amid persistent IT talent shortages. By absorbing specialist marketing know-how, INTLOOP is positioning upstream strategy as the durable, harder-to-automate layer of an increasingly AI-driven services stack.
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Image credit: Generated with Gemini
