Mar 9th 2022, Vancouver, Canada: Monstarlab, a global digital transformation partner, continues its ambitious global growth journey and opens a new office in prospering Vancouver, Canada.
The city, widely known for its epic adventures on the doorstep, has grown out of the shadows of San Francisco and Seattle to become a serious west coast contender on its own. Not only was Vancouver the fastest growing city in Canada last year in terms of both GDP and population, Financial Times also placed the city as one of the world’s most promising economies and investment locations of the future of North America. This makes ‘Techcouver’ an enticing destination for global enterprise companies, incl. Amazon and Microsoft.
“Monstarlab, formerly “Fuzz Productions”, has been active in the Americas for over 20 years, and during that time, we’ve worked alongside innovative companies across North and South America. We are excited to expand our base of operations into Vancouver, supporting the exciting growth happening in the region, and building upon our history of successful project delivery in Canada”, says Max Oglesbee, CEO of the Americas.
Vancouver has successfully transitioned from a predominantly resource-based economy to a diverse knowledge-based one, in which a flourishing tech environment based on talent availability, tax incentives, etc., has led companies to increasingly turn to British Columbia, of which Vancouver is a part, when needing state-of-the-art technology solutions. This makes it an attractive market for Monstarlab who has driven digital transformation for enterprise clients’ for years by utilizing its global knowledge and cutting-edge IT technology.
The Vancouver office will be led by Christian Nielsen, former Head of Strategy in Monstarlab’s EMEA region. Christian’s strategic development work in Denmark, London, and the Middle East seamlessly extended Monstarlab’s operations into new regions and his experience in building long-term client relationships with maximum impact, will be key to the company’s further expansion into the Canadian market.
Christian Nielsen adds: “Our goal is to apply Monstarlab’s global experience and expertise on the west coast while leveraging our longstanding credibility in North America. It was natural for us to take a closer look at the west coast, because one of our existing clients – a multinational tech company – has offices in both San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver. Vancouver stood out because of its steady growth, exceptional economic performance ahead of COVID and its great recovery. I mean, with a growing base of potential clients drawing to Vancouver for digital transformation, and a continuous high rank when it comes to economic growth, stability, liveability, diversity, talent, investment, etc., it’s hard to think of a better place to expand in North America. Vancouver’s status since the late 1800s as a central pacific “gateway” between Asia and all of North America is also of particular interest to us, because our Pacific time zone overlaps with our eastern APAC offices, which enables both a seamless and borderless “full circle” of collaboration within our company.”
While Vancouver’s major economic sectors include trade, film and TV, technology, tourism, natural resources, construction and real estate, the city has in recent years experienced extraordinary growth in apparel, agritech, digital media & entertainment, high-tech, life science and green economy. This plays particularly well to Monstarlab, who is already an established thought leader and digital solutions provider within high-tech, transportation, hospitality, and life science. The company is also looking to leverage Vancouver as a world-renowned city for green thinking and living, especially since clean technology, clean energy, green building, urban design and connected spaces are on the rise.
Playing a key role in expanding the company’s outreach, capabilities and career opportunities across the Americas, the office opening is also part of Monstarlab’s aggressive global growth strategy and follows a number of new office openings around the world, lately in Colombia, Europe and the Middle East.
Hiroki Inagawa, Monstarlab’s Group Chief Executive Officer says:
“At Monstarlab we have made it our mission to work seamlessly across borders and utilize digital technology from around the world to build a brighter future for us all. With a presence in Vancouver, we believe that our global expertise will be a valuable contribution to a flourishing market enticing for enterprise companies.
We know that our experience in digital transformation within industries such as hospitality & tourism, transportation and life science is valuable to local clients, just as we look forward to applying and extending newer verticals such as ClimateTech and Smart Places.
With Christian’s long and extensive experience at the core of this office opening, I expect to be able to add significant value to our existing, as well as new clients in the region very soon.”
About Monstarlab
Monstarlab is a digital consultancy established in 2006 in Tokyo, Japan. The company has 31 global offices powered by 1,300 strategists, designers and engineers who excel at strategy and delivery.
Specializing in end-to-end enterprise-level digital solutions, the company has successfully delivered thousands of projects, including for world-renowned corporations such as AB InBev, Fujitsu, Shake Shack and Careem (Uber).