Tuva employees will form a new specialized team within MHP Group called MHP Technology, which will provide “deep technical expertise and strategic brand consulting to breakthrough technology businesses.”
MHP Technology will become the group's specialist third sector team, alongside MHP Financial Services and MHP Health.
Tanner and Tuva co-founder James Kennedy will become Chairman of the Board and Head of MHP Technology respectively, and the team will relocate to MHP Group's offices on Great Portland Street in London.
MHP Group said the acquisition strengthened its roster of technology clients, which includes AI-driven car company Wave, cleantech investment group Breakthrough Energy and Oxford Instruments, a provider of high-tech products and services for research and industry.
Tanner and Kennedy founded Tuva in 2018 after working together at AxiCom (now owned by Burson), the technology communications agency that Tanner founded in 1994 and sold to WPP in 2008. Kennedy worked at AxiCom for more than a decade, serving as a director in its later years.
Tuva currently employs 10 people and earns around £2 million a year in fees.
The company's clients span sectors including cleantech, fintech, telecoms and enterprise IT, and include mobile network operator Veon, modern card issuing platform Marqeta and energy storage company ESS.
MHP Group's latest acquisition follows its purchase of 30-person creative agency La Plage in March, bringing the combined team size to 230.
Alex Bigg, CEO of MHP Group, said: “The Tuva team has built an enviable reputation as expert advisors to companies redesigning the global economy. From day one, MHP Technology will have a leading position in fast-growing sectors such as clean tech, AI and quantum computing. Most importantly, we can now offer deep technology expertise to MHP Group's clients.”
“Julian has a strong track record as an entrepreneur and James has proven himself to be an extremely capable business leader, but they are also both excellent and passionate client advisors.”
Kennedy said: “Over the past six years, I've been proud to partner with some incredible technology brands, from industry giants to disruptive pioneers that are opening our eyes to new markets and refreshing the way we view existing ones. It's been an incredible journey so far and I look forward to continuing my journey with MHP Group.”
“We see lots of opportunities to build across our core practice areas, including cleantech, fintech, telecommunications and enterprise IT. And MHP has the industry-leading creative resources to enable us to expand and evolve our offerings across the group to meet our clients' needs.”
The price paid for the 100% acquisition was not disclosed.
Bigg confirmed to PRWeek that MHP Group is exploring further acquisitions, which has been on an acquisitive spree since joining Next 15 just over two years ago, following the acquisition of Engine, then parent company of MHP Mischief, by Next 15 for £77.5m.
MHP Group's UK revenue is set to grow by 4% to £35.1m in 2023, according to PRWeek's ranking of the UK's top 150 consultancies.
