Tech consultancy MTX picks Adelaide as first step in APAC expansion

Adelaide will welcome the creation of a further 500 high-paying jobs, with tech consultancy MTX Group selecting the city as its first Asia Pacific hub.

US-based tech consulting and services firm MTX Group has selected Australia as its Asia Pacific launchpad, with its first downunder delivery centre to be established in Adelaide. The expansion will create 2,500 Australian jobs, with 500 of those committed to South Australia, and follows closely on the heels of first Accenture and then PwC announcing new centres in Adelaide, bringing 2000 and 300 jobs respectively in the coming years.

“We are committed to creating positive impacts in local communities and Adelaide became the obvious first delivery hub in Australia because of the culture and the ambitious plan by the regional government with a clear ten year vision to innovation and a thriving economy,” said MTX CEO Das Nobel, who together with Nipa Nobel established the Texas-based firm in its current guise in 2018. Today, it has over 680 employees listed on LinkedIn.

With aspirations of becoming a billion-dollar company by 2025, MTX covers a range of technology and consulting services, including Salesforce and Google Cloud implementations and propriety AI and machine-learning platforms. The company has over the past year won a number of sizeable Covid response contracts in the US, including beating out the likes of Accenture and IBM on a $295 million contract-tracing management tender in Texas.

MTX’s Australian practice will be led by co-founder and CEO Ben Papps, a former management consultant with Boston Consulting Group and more recently executive manager for the NBN. Papps cited the city’s artificial intelligence and data analytics credentials as one of the firm’s attractions to Adelaide, with the Australian Institute for Machine Learning and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Living Lab both having been established in South Australia in the past couple years.

“AIML is a world-class research facility and the MIT Living Lab, which is one of only three labs outside the United States, offers a global collaboration between MIT, government and business within Adelaide,” Papps said. “MTX is excited to partner with these, and other research initiatives, that enable safe and secure data analysis to identify growth opportunities and improve government decision-making and socio-economic outcomes.”

Attending the launch alongside federal finance minister Simon Birmingham, state premiere Stephen Marshall said, “South Australia offers a unique platform through research, skills and collaborations that will enable development opportunities in artificial intelligence, space technology, renewable energy and health.”

“MTX will be able to bridge academic consortiums and businesses in a mutual partnership that provides salient training internships and high-paying jobs.”

In what the firm says is a clear demonstration of its commitment to the state, MTX followed up its launch by announcing a five year naming rights sponsorship deal for the Stadium Club at Adelaide Oval, with the revamped ‘MTX Club’ unveiled at the Adelaide versus Port Adelaide showdown over the weekend. “MTX looks forward to connecting with businesses in a local setting, and Adelaide Oval provided a great fit for us,” Papps stated.