Companies unite to leverage deep IT expertise and exceptional cognitive skills of its autistic employees to offer unique service for corporate customers
CALGARY, MONTRÉAL and MUNICH, June 4, 2019 /PRNewswire/ – auticon, the award-winning, leading global technology employer for autistic professionals, has just entered into the Canadian market in Montréal and now announced to join forces with Meticulon in Calgary, Canada’s first technology company focused on employing people with autism. The acquisition of Meticulon’s IT consulting division makes the new combined company the leading employer of adults on the autism spectrum offering exceptional quality work within the information technology industry for its customers also in Canada. The combined enterprise in Canada – known as auticon in all English-speaking regions and as auticonsult in all French-speaking regions to avoid linguistic connotations – will leverage the unique strengths of each company, offering services such as business analytics, artificial intelligence, software development and migration, as well as quality assurance and testing.
Meticulon’s consulting business team will join auticon, offering its strong Canada presence and expertise in delivering high quality remote software testing services. With an office in Calgary, Meticulon currently employs 31 autistic individuals who serve major clients and brands in the Software, Oil & Gas, Finance, Engineering, and Securities industries. The customer base of auticon includes top European and U.S. companies, such as BMW Group, GlaxoSmithKline, Allianz, Lufthansa, Siemens, PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Warner Bros..Through the acquisition auticon will continue to expand its portfolio of clients with major Canadian companies and will be able to serve its global customers in Europe and in North America.
“This strategic union will allow us to expand business and employment opportunities across Canada, introducing new sectors and regions to the autism advantage for business,” said Garth Johnson, CEO and co-founder of Meticulon and now Canada CEO of auticon. “Our clients know how accurate, proficient, and diligent our gifted people are which is why we’ve been growing by over 45% every year since 2014. auticon Canada’s mission is to build on this foundation and become the best and largest autism employment focused consulting firm Canada-wide.”
“Despite being highly qualified, only 15 to 20 percent of people with autism are employed in the mainstream workforce,” said Kurt Schöffer, Group CEO of auticon. “The acquisition of Meticulon’s consulting division supports auticon expanding on its mission to bring awareness to neurodiversity while creating distinguished career opportunities for adults with autism. We look forward to accelerating employment opportunities in tech and consulting for the exceptionally talented and skilled adults on the autism spectrum.”
auticon is backed by some of the most influential investors and family offices in Europe, including Sir Richard Branson (Virgin Group), Susanne and Felix Porsche, Stephen Brenninkmeijer (C&A), Ananda Impact Ventures, and Yabeo Capital. Existing and new investors – e.g. Ferd Social Entrepreneurs of Norway and Alexander Andre de la Porte (Rockmelon) – have increased their commitment to further enable the expansion of auticon globally.
“Autistic adults can bring outstanding value in the technology area such as Business Analytics or Artificial Intelligence,” said Brock Brown, Servant Leader VP Corporate Services, Vitruvi Software. “We appreciate the cooperation of auticon and Meticulon in order to bring more autistic workforce to the Canadian IT market.”
Sir Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group, says, “We’ve already seen auticon achieve great success in Europe and the US. I’m excited to see the further expansion internationally and into Canada. auticon is a business with purpose at its core and everyone at Virgin is proud to be part of their journey as they continue to make a positive difference to lives around the world.”
A leading employer of people with autism across the globe, auticon recognizes that employees on the spectrum often possess skills that are beneficial in the IT and technology field, including pattern recognition, error detection, fraud prevention, logical analysis, sustained concentration, and attention to detail. Since its inception in 2011, auticon has significantly developed and broadened its portfolio of services and solutions in cutting-edge fields such as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain technologies, test automation, data mining and crime prevention.
auticon has successfully expanded in Western Europe, opening seven locations in Germanyand affiliates in France, Switzerland, Italy and the U.K and established a strong U.S. platform to allow the company to accelerate growth first in Montréal and Calgary and then to cities across Canada.
For more information, visit www.auticon.ca.
About auticon
auticon is an IT and compliance consulting business and specifically employs adults on the autism spectrum as IT consultants. The company leverages demand for outsourced IT services to drive social change and create careers in high-tech for people with specialized abilities, improving their self-sufficiency and quality of life. auticon supports autistic adults with Job Coaches and Project Managers and produces a win-win-win situation for clients, autistic consultants, as well as society. auticon was founded in Berlin in November 2011 with investment from the Munich and London-based Ananda Impact Ventures and now employs more than 150 IT consultants on the autism spectrum. It is the first enterprise to scale this model across Europe and worldwide. The shareholders appointed Kurt Schöffer as CEO in 2013 to grow and expand the social enterprise. An international entrepreneur in the IT, energy and media sectors, Kurt was also an original investor in auticon. Managing Director of auticon Canada is Garth Johnson, Meticulon’s CEO and co-founder. Garth is bringing his business experience as an entrepreneur – managing several enterprises such as iStockphoto and the Canadian Association for Supported Employment.
About Meticulon
Meticulon is an IT consulting firm specializing in superior, cost-efficient, outsourced QA and Data management services – either on-site or remote, on a project, time & materials or retained basis. Meticulon’s elite consultants will be faster, more accurate, more thorough and more committed to excellence than any others you’ve ever engaged – just ask our customers, they’ll confirm we’re the best, bar none. Launching in 2013 as social enterprise funded in partnership with Government of Canada, Autism Calgary, and the Sinneave Family Foundation, Meticulon is the first Canadian corporation to build a financially sustainable consulting business deploying the unique abilities of people with autism to achieve its business success. Co-founder Garth Johnson, Meticulon CEO, brought a lifetime of IT entrepreneurial experience to the venture and the Meticulon team went on to help many other social enterprises employing people with autism launch successfully across Canada. Meticulon’s MAS youth assessement program and other charitable activies will continue on while its consulting division will become a part of auticon Canada.
SOURCE Auticon
