We partnered with Mark Sundquist and the founding partners of Fiftyfive5 in 2018, investing alongside Mark, Karen Phillips and Darren Kemp to support the next phase of growth for the business. Our investment also facilitated the merger of Fiftyfive5 and GalKal, with GalKal founder Brent Wallace becoming a shareholder in the combined group.

At the time of our investment, Fiftyfive5 had established itself as one of Australia’s leading customer insight-led strategy consultancies, with a strong reputation for delivering high quality strategic and consumer insights work to a blue-chip client base. The business had grown organically through its founder-led partnership model and had built a strong culture and reputation within the industry. We saw an opportunity to combine Fiftyfive5 and GalKal to create a scaled independent platform with the capability to expand geographically, broaden service offerings, institutionalise the operating platform and build a long-term succession pathway beyond the founding partners.

Working closely with Mark and the broader leadership team, we helped reshape the strategic direction and operating platform of the business to support accelerated growth and scalability. This transformation included the integration of Fiftyfive5 and GalKal into a unified business and brand, establishment of a centralised research and data platform, expansion into new capabilities including customer experience and advanced analytics, significant growth in recurring tracking and syndicated research offerings, investment in the corporate and leadership structure, and the implementation of a broader partnership and equity model to attract, retain and develop senior talent across the organisation.

Through this partnership, Fiftyfive5 expanded from a Sydney-centric consultancy into Australia’s leading customer insight-led strategy consultancy with offices across Melbourne, Canberra, Auckland, Singapore and London. Revenue grew from $34 million to $62 million during our investment period and employee numbers increased from 105 to more than 220 people globally.

In 2022, we led a successful sale process resulting in the acquisition of Fiftyfive5 by Accenture, delivering an outstanding outcome for all shareholders and establishing a strong long-term platform for the continued growth of the business.