Contino

Contino was founded in London in 2014 by Matt Farmer and William Martin — former investment banking tech executives. It built a cloud and DevOps transformation consultancy, helping large enterprises adopt continuous deployment, cloud-native architecture, and automated testing. Contino was acquired by Cognizant in 2019 — just two years after entering Australia.

January 2017 – Melbourne First Office: Contino first established operations in Australia in early 2017, opening its first trans-Tasman office in Melbourne. Its UK-based DevOps principal consultant Daniel Williams was appointed APAC Director of Engineering and relocated to Melbourne. This was part of the broader $130M UK tech investment wave.

April 2018 – Nebulr Acquisition: Just 15 months after opening in Melbourne, Contino acquired Nebulr — a 50-person Australian DevOps and cloud consultancy in Melbourne and Sydney with three of Australia's largest banks as clients. Nebulr CEO Craig Howe became APAC Managing Director. The merged APAC team totalled 65 staff.

2018–2019 – ANZ Client Portfolio: Following the acquisition, Contino built a portfolio including NAB, UBank, Bendigo Bank, and one of Australia's largest universities, delivering cloud transformation, data analytics, and Consumer Data Right implementation programs.

2019 – Cognizant Acquisition: Contino was acquired by Cognizant — one of the world's largest IT services firms. The ANZ client base — three of Australia's largest banks — was central to the acquisition rationale.

• Accelerate through acquisition — If organic growth is too slow, find the ANZ company that already has your ideal client base (Nebulr gave 50 staff, 3 banks, 2 cities in one deal)
• Hire local leadership, not expats — Local professional services leadership with local relationships is non-negotiable (Daniel Williams relocated; Craig Howe (Nebulr CEO) became APAC MD)
• Make your ANZ story an exit catalyst — A credible ANZ enterprise client base can accelerate your exit by demonstrating global market appeal (Three Australian big banks → Cognizant acquisition in 2 years)
• Open Melbourne before Sydney — Don't default to Sydney; Melbourne is Australia's technology and financial services capital (Financial services, government — Melbourne is the equal of Sydney)

• Entry Date: January 2017 (Melbourne)
• First Acquisition: Nebulr (50-person Australian DevOps firm, April 2018)
• ANZ Bank Clients: Three of Australia's largest banks post-Nebulr
• Notable Clients: NAB, UBank, Bendigo Bank
• Time Entry → Exit: ~2 years (entry Jan 2017; sold to Cognizant 2019)
• Acquirer: Cognizant

For UK operators considering ANZ entry, Contino's playbook offers a clear template. The lessons below are drawn from Contino's entry decisions, partner choices, and milestones in Australia & New Zealand.

• Accelerate through acquisition — If organic growth is too slow, find the ANZ company that already has your ideal client base (Nebulr gave 50 staff, 3 banks, 2 cities in one deal)
• Hire local leadership, not expats — Local professional services leadership with local relationships is non-negotiable (Daniel Williams relocated; Craig Howe (Nebulr CEO) became APAC MD)
• Make your ANZ story an exit catalyst — A credible ANZ enterprise client base can accelerate your exit by demonstrating global market appeal (Three Australian big banks → Cognizant acquisition in 2 years)
• Open Melbourne before Sydney — Don't default to Sydney; Melbourne is Australia's technology and financial services capital (Financial services, government — Melbourne is the equal of Sydney)