Press release

Bain & Company acquires Houston-based digital product studio, Umbrage, to help clients reach new levels of growth and efficiency through world-class software capabilities

Bain & Company acquires Houston-based digital product studio, Umbrage, to help clients reach new levels of growth and efficiency through world-class software capabilities

Deal comes as companies increasingly look to software as the enabler of new business models, growth, and efficiency.

  • February 01, 2023
  • min read

Press release

Bain & Company acquires Houston-based digital product studio, Umbrage, to help clients reach new levels of growth and efficiency through world-class software capabilities

BOSTON—February 1, 2023—Bain & Company today announced its acquisition of Umbrage, a Houston-based digital product studio that partners with its clients to design, develop, and scale world-class software solutions.

The announcement comes as new digital business models are increasingly being enabled by new developments in enterprise software, and companies are seeking new avenues to unlock growth.

Together, Umbrage will work closely with Bain’s Innovation & Design services and bring additional deep technical expertise in areas such as Product Management, UI/UX Design, Full-Stack Development, DevOps, QA, and Web3. The move will further support clients with the end-to-end delivery capabilities necessary to conceptualize, design, build, and scale next-level, software-driven business models and products.  

“Bain’s commitment to delivering results with clients requires expanding and enhancing its ability to innovate and industrialize digital solutions,” said Arpan Sheth, global leader of Vector℠, Bain’s digital delivery platform. “Joining forces with Umbrage will allow us to develop a best-in-class, craft-centric digital product and venture building studio that will enable our clients to not only develop successful digital strategies, but to also execute on these strategies through world-class software capabilities. Umbrage further enhances Bain’s Next solution to support our clients in their business building missions”

The deal will accelerate the scaling of the firm’s Innovation & Design services by strengthening Bain’s full suite of digital services provided through Vector. To date, Bain’s Vector team has advised on more than 6,700 digital projects across industries around the world, delivering end-to-end capabilities in advanced analytics, innovation & design, software engineering and enterprise technology. It does this by embedding technical experts within Bain’s consulting teams, working as one joint team to help clients achieve their digital ambitions.

“We are excited to be joining forces with Bain to build on their extraordinary success to date, and to ensure our clients achieve next levels of growth during a time when undergoing digital transformations is critical for achieving superior business outcomes,” said Will Womble, CEO of Umbrage. “Alongside Bain, we can deliver enhanced end-to-end solutions that will position our clients for success and to adapt during waves of disruptive emerging technologies.”

Following completion of the deal with Bain, Umbrage will continue to operate independently as a branded service line associated with Bain Innovation & Design. Umbrage will also continue to provide services to its pre-existing clients across energy and natural resources and multiple other sectors.

Editor's Note: For more information or interview requests please contact: Dan Pinkney, Bain & Company, tel. +1 646 562 8102, email: dan.pinkney@bain.com

About Umbrage

Umbrage is a crafts-based digital studio with presence in Houston, TX and Monterrey, Mexico.  Founded in 2019, Umbrage partners with its customers to deliver and scale solutions to complex business problems. Having deep technical expertise and a desire to integrate with its clients, Umbrage has delivered and scaled customized software solutions to a variety of industries notably including Web3 applications in financial services and the energy and natural resources industries

About Bain & Company

Bain & Company is a global consultancy that helps the world’s most ambitious change makers define the future.

Across 65 cities in 40 countries, we work alongside our clients as one team with a shared ambition to achieve extraordinary results, outperform the competition, and redefine industries. We complement our tailored, integrated expertise with a vibrant ecosystem of digital innovators to deliver better, faster, and more enduring outcomes. Our 10-year commitment to invest more than $1 billion in pro bono services brings our talent, expertise, and insight to organizations tackling today’s urgent challenges in education, racial equity, social justice, economic development, and the environment. We earned a platinum rating from EcoVadis, the leading platform for environmental, social, and ethical performance ratings for global supply chains, putting us in the top 1% of all companies. Since our founding in 1973, we have measured our success by the success of our clients, and we proudly maintain the highest level of client advocacy in the industry. 

Vector℠ is a service mark of Bain & Company, Inc.