UK management consultancy Elixirr enters Australian market
Challenger consultancy Elixirr has formally launched in Australia, as it looks to maintain its stellar growth into its second decade in business. Primarily based in Sydney, client demand has taken Elixirr’s rapidly expanding team to the new market, where it has already been undertaking work for over a year.
The consulting industry of Australia has become a remarkable success story recently. Despite Australia having just the world’s 14th largest GDP, the country boasts the fourth largest consulting industry in terms of revenues. That places Australia behind only the economic giants of the US, UK and Germany – all of which are among the globe’s six largest nations by GDP.
One of the key driving forces behind Australia’s thriving consulting market is surely its economic stability. Until 2020, the national economy has gone some 28 years without slipping into a recession, while experiencing a number of economic glory years from the late 90s onwards, driven largely by a mining and resources boom. Mining and resources are generally one of the larger segments of the consulting sector globally, but in Australia it accounts for a value of more than $1 billion now, making it the second largest such market on the planet, behind only the massive US domain.
Australia’s seemingly unending economic fairytale has understandably attracted a number of consulting firms in recent years. Since 2018, UK origin Baringa Partners and Q5 Partners have been joined by US consultancies Navigant, Slalom and Delta Partners as part of a growing cohort of arrivals from the world’s largest consulting markets. Now, fast-growing UK headquartered challenger consultancy Elixirr has decided the time is right to join them.
Speaking on the move, Daniel Lemcke, Partner at Elixirr, commented, “Our innovation-led approach to consulting is something Australia has embraced… It’s a market actively seeking out non-traditional ways of working, to deliver increasing value for their customers by embracing open banking and FinTech partnerships. We are uniquely placed to help them embrace these relationships, not just locally in Australia, but around the world.”
Formed in the UK in 2009, Elixirr quickly expanded across multiple geographies to become an organisation of 130 people working across 16 industries and over 25 countries. The consultancy first moved into Africa, before its clients led it to grow quickly throughout Europe and the US – where revenue grew by 680% in the last year alone. 2019 saw Elixirr celebrate its 10th year in business, and the expansion of its business into Australia signifies the firm’s determination not to rest on its laurels as it moves into its second decade.
Elixirr first established a team on the ground in Australia over a year ago. While it is primarily located in Sydney, a release from the firm states it is consulting all over the continent-sized country. Alongside the expertise of its global team, Elixirr’s also aims to expand its ecosystem to help it bed in in Australia. The consultancy hopes to connect incumbent firms in Australia into its global innovation ecosystem – which already features leading venture capital firms, accelerators, innovation labs and start-ups across Silicon Valley, New York, London, Israel, China, India, Kenya and Cape Town.
Stephen Newton, Founder and CEO of Elixirr said of the news, “Australia was the next logical step for Elixirr... Their readiness to adopt innovation, and so many businesses looking to transform to deliver more for their customers, quickly meant the demand was already there for our expertise. Our clients have always taken us to the geographies we work in – a testament to the impactful work our team does globally.”
