US-based mobile enterprise tech firm DMI has bought London’s Golden Gekko for an undisclosed sum. Magnus Jern, former CEO, will become the president of DMI’s mobile app solutions division.

Speaking to Mobile Marketing, Jay Fiore, VP of marketing for DMI, said this acquisition will fill out his companys set of solutions and give it access to the C-suites of some of the top brands in the world. The deal has been in the pipeline for some months.

Golden Gekko will keep its name ‘for now’ with DMI concentrating its investment in sales and marketing to build the brand globally. “We will be expanding very aggressively in the US,” Fiore said. Jern said that Golden Gekko had already been working in the most sophisticated and competitive market in the world, the UK. “Now people are starting to move in this space in the US and it’s happening fast. In Asia, there is also a big need from international companies that want to be able to work here and compete against local players.”

Golden Gekko has developed more than 1,500 mobile sites and apps in the past five years, with more than 400 in the past year alone, and all with a team of just 160. Jern said: “Projects were getting longer, becoming more complex, using more resources and aiming more internationally, which was a challenge for a smaller company. Clients like Unilever and Coca Cola require more space to help them grow, they can’t work with small mobile shops.”

Golden Gekko’s team had already increased by 40 per cent since last year and they still aim to hire 40 more by the end of 2013. Jern said they will recruit anywhere between 50 to 100 per cent next year, depending on how fast they can find the right people.

He said they haven’t seen any conflict with existing clients in making the DMI deal, meaning everyone, including its most recent client win Budweiser in China, are on board with the changes.

The announcement follows the acquistion of Grapple by Monitise earlier this month for £16.5m.