ExlService Holdings is set to acquire AI data solutions company iMerit for up to USD 310 million, significantly boosting its AI innovation capabilities and expanding its market reach in the rapidly evolving enterprise AI sector.
Key Points
- ExlService Holdings is acquiring AI data solutions company iMerit for up to USD 310 million.
- The acquisition aims to accelerate AI innovation and deepen EXL’s capabilities in AI model training, evaluation, and reinforcement learning.
- iMerit specialises in training large language and multimodal models for improved accuracy and effectiveness.
- The deal expands EXL’s total addressable market across high-growth AI tech sectors.
- The transaction is projected to close in the third quarter of 2026.
ExlService Holdings, a data and AI company, on Thursday announced it will acquire AI data solutions company iMerit in a deal valued at up to USD 310 million in upfront and future considerations.
EXL said the buy positions it to speed up AI innovation in the enterprise space with iMerit’s direct relationships with foundation model builders. It also deepens EXL’s AI capabilities with iMerit’s model training, evaluation and reinforcement learning. Overall, the acquisition expands EXL’s total addressable market across high-growth AI tech sectors.
Strategic Expansion In AI Capabilities
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, said Nasdaq-listed EXL, which has a significant chunk of its global workforce in India.
“ExlService Holdings, a global data and AI company, today announced a definitive agreement to acquire iMerit, a recognised leader in AI model training, evaluation and reinforcement learning,” EXL said in a release.
iMerit is focused on helping its clients train large language and multimodal models to improve accuracy, precision and effectiveness.
Financial Details And Future Outlook
The deal is valued at up to USD 310 million, which includes an upfront consideration of USD 170 million, with an additional USD 140 million in incentives and earnouts over two years, subject to meeting specified milestones.
The acquisition strengthens EXL’s ability to help enterprises achieve measurable outcomes from AI, builds partnerships with leading foundation model creators and expands EXL’s reach into high-growth AI tech sectors, the release said.
“As organisations reimagine their businesses with AI, success requires industry-specific data, rigorous evaluation and reinforcement learning to deliver reliable results in business-critical workflows,” Rohit Kapoor, chairman and chief executive officer of EXL, said.
According to him, the acquisition of iMerit cements EXL’s AI strategy and ability to help clients move from experimentation to production.
“We see EXL as an ideal leader in this defining moment for AI. We can build on our work with AI innovators and bring those insights to companies seeking to unlock their proprietary data,” Radha Ramaswami Basu, chief executive officer and founder of iMerit, said.
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