Global player ERM buys The Big Middle and The Big Zero
Formed in just 2022, Adelaide-based cloud and ESG sister consultancies The Big Middle and The Big Zero have been snapped up by sustainability firm ERM.
Global sustainability consultancy ERM has picked up Adelaide-based cloud specialist The Big Middle and its sister company The Big Zero, adding to its growing global portfolio. For Big Middle co-founder and CEO Andrew McAdams, it’s the second jackpot in the space of five years, after he and his partners sold their previous enterprise PrimeQ to Accenture after just three years in business, before then launching The Big Middle in 2022.
“We are pleased to join ERM and bring our expertise to a company with tremendous purpose,” commented McAdams, who has now joined ERM as a partner alongside fellow Big Middle co-founder and COO Greg Taylor.
The pair cross together with around 30 staff covering both businesses. “We look forward to extending our technology capabilities to a broader market while continuing the focus on sustainability,” McAdams added.
As the name suggests, The Big Middle was set up with a view to catering to middle market customers – those with revenues of between $100 million and $1 billion according to its founders – providing consulting, implementation and support services focused on Oracle and Salesforce products. The Big Zero meanwhile applies the firm’s Salesforce and enterprise systems expertise with a focus on decarbonisation and ESG accounting.
“Through the acquisition of The Big Zero, we can enable clients to better track and integrate environmental data seamlessly into their organisation, encompassing Scope 1, 2 and 3 carbon emissions, energy usage, and waste and water management from various sources,” stated ERM’s global digital products & data analytics Thomas Achhorner, with the firm also noting “The Big Middle’s wealth of system implementation experience.”
Described as the world’s largest pure-play sustainability consultancy with revenues now exceeding the $1 billion mark, ERM continues to pursue international growth, the London-headquartered firm over the past twelve months adding Washington-based water advisory Coho and Brazilian finance sector ESG specialist NINT to a list of more than a dozen completed acquisitions since being majority backed by international investment firm KKR in 2021
Like the above-mentioned acquisitions, The Big Middle and Big Zero will continue operating out of Adelaide with their existing branding but under the ERM banner, which itself recently underwent an overhaul, with a new green logo featuring a digital-looking circle to capture the firm’s nature-positive credentials and contemporary approach.
With a heritage dating back more than 50 years, today ERM has a headcount of more than 8,000 professionals spread across 40 countries.
