McKinsey & Company buys two digital consultancies in Australia
McKinsey & Company has bought two companies in Australia, in what are the firm’s first acquisitions in its 50-year history down under.
Both acquisitions are aimed at growing McKinsey & Company’s digital capabilities, as its clients around the world embrace digital transformation as a means to gain a competitive edge and unlock value. Currently, over 40% of all its work worldwide involves some contribution from its digital practices.
The purchase of Hypothesis adds a team of around 40 staff to its Australian McKinsey Digital division. Hypothesis is a Sydney and Melbourne based digital-focused consulting firmthat specialises in four lines of work: designing digital products and concepts, data science, developing tools and solutions including software engineering and product interface, and the adoption of agile ways of working.
Further reading: McKinsey Australia buys Hypothesis to beef up Digital division
The acquisition of Venturetec adds a small team of consultants and innovators to McKinsey Digital. Venturetec was founded a few years ago and had grown to a boutique specialist in digital innovation, having completed over 80 projects with clients in seven countries across Asia Pacific.
Further reading: McKinsey bolts-on Venturetec to Digital business in Australia
Venturetec has been integrated into McKinsey Digital’s Leap practice, which helps clients with the incubation, launch and build of digital businesses. Hypothesis has been merged into the Build by McKinsey practice, which helps corporate and public sector clients implement digital transformation strategies and transform to agile organisations.
Globally, McKinsey Digital has more than 5,000 staff – data scientists, engineers, architects, developers, technology leads, agile coaches, designers, and cybersecurity experts – working from offices across more than 60 countries.
The pair of deals comes shortly after McKinsey bought Candid Partners in the US, a 150-strong provider of cloud consulting services to large organisations. The deals are a departure from McKinsey’s traditional growth strategy, which prefers organic growth to bolt-ons. Last year, Germany’s Orpheus was its sole acquisition, and in 2019 the consultancy bought Westney Consulting in the US. In 2018, the New York headquartered firm didn’t buy anything.
