French advertising group Havas snaps up Indian digital agency Langoor

By Narinder Kapur

  • 18 Sep 2019
Credit: Thinkstock

Havas Group, a multinational advertising and public relations company based in France, has acquired Indian digital agency Langoor for an undisclosed amount.

The acquisition marks Havas’ second bet on an Indian company this year; it had bought user experience and digital design company Think Design in May.

In a statement, Paris-based Havas said Langoor Digital Pvt. Ltd will be rebranded as Langoor Havas and that the entity will be led by its co-founder Venugopal Ganganna. Ganganna will be the new entity’s chief digital officer, and will report to Rana Barua, who is the group chief executive officer of Havas Group India.

Langoor Havas will focus on three areas – health, business and vernacular – and will also expand its services to markets outside of India in the following months, Havas said in its statement.

VCCircle has contacted both Langoor and Havas Group on the financial details of the acquisition and will update this report accordingly.

Havas chairman and CEO Yannick Bolloré said the acquisition was in line with its strategy to strengthen its digital skills portfolio in the country.

“The combined expertise of Think Design and Langoor boosts Havas’ digital offer in one of the world’s fastest growing ad markets,” Bolloré said, adding that the group is aiming to triple its presence in the country by the end of this year.

Separately, Langoor co-founders Ruchir Punjabi and Ganganna said the acquisition by Havas would help the group expand the scale of its services as well as help it with its growth objectives.

Langoor has a presence in countries and territories such as Bahrain, Hong Kong, India, Australia and Dubai. According to its website, the company provides services such as strategy, design, marketing, data and intelligence and marketing automation, among others.

The Havas Group, which was originally founded in 1835 in Paris, employs over 20,000 people in over 100 countries. It says it operates through three business units covering all communications activities, and says it has also adopted a fully integrated model in which several of its teams work together to meet a client’s needs.