Eric Reidy – Wamda – 1 April 2014

iConnect-Tech and 2i Software, two software development companies with front offices in Chicago and programming teams based in Palestine, have been working out of the same building in Ramallah for three years. Now, iConnect has acquired 2i’s Palestinian operation and is looking to provide business intelligence services for the U.S. healthcare market.

The origins of the deal between iConnect and 2i, inked at the end of February, stretch back to 2010. At that point, Kais Salhut, a native of Jerusalem who moved to the U.S. at 17 to attend school, was starting a Palestinian development team for 2i, which also has operations in Malta and India.

Salhut knew iConnect’s management in Chicago and was aware that the two companies had similar administrative structures with different specialties. It was only natural that a relationship would develop between the two operations. “We knew something was going to happen,” Salhut explains. “We just didn’t know what it would be…

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