Neulogy, “one of the Central European leaders in providing complex consulting services for research, development, technology transfer, and commercialization,” and the founder of Slovak Startup Awards joins forces with Estonian independent management consultancy CIVITTA Group.
We talked to the Neulogy CEO, Peter Kolesár, about what it means.
The Estonian-origin management consultancy enters Slovakia following the acquisition of Neulogy in a fresh push into Central Europe.
Neulogy is a leader in innovation consulting in Slovakia with a strong focus on corporate innovation, startup support and R&D project management. The company has been at the core of Slovak startup ecosystem over the 12 years since its founding.
CIVITTA, launched in Estonia’s Tartu in 2005, is a leading independent management consultancy in Central and Eastern Europe. The company offers a full spectrum of consulting services, with innovation being one of them.
The group focuses on helping startups to grow and scale; universities to connect research with business and commercialize R&D; corporates to build and accelerate innovation inside the company, and governments to build innovation communities and ecosystems.
CIVITTA has been rapidly expanding and currently has operations in 13 countries with 22 offices.
Under CIVITTA Slovakia brand, the Neulogy team will continue to serve its clients in Slovakia, provide innovation consulting expertise within the CIVITTA group and expand its portfolio of services to include management and strategy consulting, public sector consulting and digital transformation.
Peter, how long has the deal been in discussion and what led you to commence the negotiations?
The first meeting between Civitta’s founder and managing partner at Neulogy took place in the summer of 2017, so initial discussions started some 18 monts ago. But the real talks intensified after a staff exchange and my meeting with all Civitta’s partners in September 2018, when I saw the high level of alignment of our Civitta’s and Neulogy’s values and approach to business.
What does the new owners’ structure look like?
51% of the company is owned by Civitta International, the rest is shared among Civitta Slovakia’s key employees.
Does this mean the Neulogy as we know it ceases to exist and there will only be CIVITTA Slovakia?
Yes, Neulogy is rebranded to CIVITTA Slovakia, but the Neulogy team will continue to serve its clients in Slovakia, provide innovation consulting expertise within the CIVITTA group and continue with activities related to the local startup ecosystem.
We will, however, expand our portfolio of services to include management and strategy consulting, public sector consulting and digital transformation.
What will be your role as a former Neulogy CEO in the new structure?
I will continue as Partner of CIVITTA Slovakia being responsible for business development and the overall strategy. All in all, very little change when it comes to my day-to-day roles.
What changes are in place in terms of the services you provide and the markets you operate in?
As the cooperation among CIVITTA offices across CEE is intense, we will become much more international in terms of projects our consultants work on. For new services in our portfolio, such as strategy consulting or management consulting, we will greatly benefit from the years of expertise of other CIVITTA offices.
Are you expanding the team operating in Slovakia? If so, what positions do you need to fill in?
Yes, we are always hiring talented individuals who can join our team. At this point, we are looking to recruit 2-3 analysts and consultants to work on projects in innovation consulting and entreprenuership.
In what way, if any, will this change affect the StartupAwards/FutureNow events as you are one of the organizers together with HubHub?
StartupAwards/FutureNow is not transferred to the new entity, so from 2019, HubHub is the sole organizer of the events. However, CIVITTA Slovakia is in close touch with the FutureNow team and assisting in whatever way possible.
