Partners with Chelsea Apps Factory to help early stage companies
KPMG UK announced today a strategic partnership with the Chelsea Apps Factory, a UK technology firm specialising in the design and production of mobile enterprise apps (EMA's).
Chelsea Apps Factory is the first partnership that will form part of KPMG's Digital Innovation Network, a pioneering concept that aims to bring together KPMG's industry knowledge and experience with the creativity and design skills of early stage start up companies.
The deal with Chelsea Apps Factory sees KPMG taking an initial equity stake in the business of 10%, which may grow depending on the amount of business both parties will do together.
Alwin Magimay, head of digital and analytics at KPMG commented: 'We created the Digital Innovation Network to build an ecosystem of ideas and innovation in a new way that benefits our clients. By working closely with early stage tech companies, such as the Chelsea Apps Factory, we can give our clients access to the hottest areas of mobile, cloud, cyber, social and analytics.'
The partnership with Chelsea Apps Factory follows last year's opening of a permanent KPMG representation in Tech City and the launch of KPMG Capital, a global investment fund that will invest primarily in data and analytics businesses.
The demand for mobile enterprise apps is driven by the increasing consumerisation of business technology as clients and employees demand intuitive and easy to use applications, often on their own private smartphones and tablets.
Many businesses are waking up to the fact that apps can increase productivity and make work processes more flexible, as an increasing amount of IT budgets are now being devoted to building enterprise mobile apps. Experts estimate that the UK enterprise mobile apps market is currently worth £150 million and at the moment there is no single player offering a credible end to end offering for the emerging needs of the FTSE-500 companies.
Simon Collins, UK chairman at KPMG, added: 'Today's partnership brings together two organisations, at polar opposites of the business spectrum. Our Tech City presence shows there is huge appetite amongst some of our largest clients to build networks with smaller tech companies, at the forefront of technological innovation. Vice versa, small tech companies, particularly start ups, are looking for the support – not just financial – of large corporates. Fostering this type of corporate ecosystem can drive the UK's route to sustainable growth. Certainly with our own corporate matchmaking at Tech City proving such a success, it was only natural that we would explore partnerships that we could benefit from as well!'
Mike Anderson, CEO Chelsea Apps factory commented: 'I built this business from scratch three years ago because I am passionate about helping enterprises get mobilised. Today, we have one of the most creative and skilled teams both in the UK and have built over 100 mobile apps. Our partnership with KPMG is the next step in our evolution. Being a part of the Digital Innovation Network means that we can combine our creative talent with KPMG's industry and technology integration expertise to offer our clients an unparalleled capability to mobilise business through a process of discovery and delivery.'
