Having shaken off early legal threats from PwC, secured 120 clients, and already won work from traditional rivals, two former Big Four heavyweights told Rosie Harris-Davison that their advisory firm, Unity Advisory, is not a challenger but a contender in the evolving market.
Marissa Thomas, former chief operating officer and managing partner at PwC UK for 32 years until 2025, and Steve Varley, former chairman and managing partner of EY UK and Ireland, founded the private-equity-backed firm Unity Advisory to “modernise” the advisory model.
“I had strongly held views on how advisory needed to be different, by putting talent and expertise at the heart of the model, and leveraging technology and AI responsibly to accelerate delivery,” Thomas told City AM. “I just wanted to be part of creating something that was the next chapter versus trying to update something that needs retrofitting.”
Since Unity Advisory took on its first client in November last year, after two Big Four veterans founded it in April, the advisory firm now has 120 clients on its books, serving primarily private-equity-backed businesses and private equity firms, alongside some listed companies, and shows no signs of slowing down.
“We’re not a challenger, we are a contender,” Thomas said, adding that the firm is “winning work from a broad range of competitors”.
However, the firm’s early journey hit some bumps after its debut when reports said PwC sent legal threats in February to senior members of the advisory firm who had jumped ship from the Big Four giant. But months later, the heat seems to have cooled, as Thomas told City AM that there is “no ongoing litigation or legal battle with PwC, or any of the Big Four [firms].”
“I’d say the relationships are appropriately cordial,” Thomas added.
Firm targets outcome-based billing
Varley said after he left EY, his previous clients asked what he was doing next, and when he shared the idea of Unity Advisory, his former clients were “really interested in continuing a relationship”, as he stated with an advisory firm that focused on “outcomes” instead of the traditional advisory model of billing by the hour, which “got him thinking” even more about the business idea.
He said the firm is now “a viable alternative” to the Big Four and other mid-market advisory firms, and compares its conflict-free business model to being “like a speedboat rather than an oil tanker”, able to move faster and adapt quicker than large, well-established legacy firms.
The Mayfair-headquartered firm uses AI and proprietary software to increase client-facing time and reduce administrative work, which Varley said makes Unity an “AI-powered” firm, enabling it to speed up delivery while retaining human judgement. “We want to work out the value we’re going to create together, and then we’d rather be paid on the value creation rather than the billable hours,” he said.
This comes as the Big Four and the wider professional services sector increasingly invest in stronger ‘human skills’ as AI reshapes the industry.
PE backer expectations ‘exceeded’
Unity Advisory signed a deal with US private equity backer Warburg Pincus for up to $300m (£224.8m) in funding last April.
“It’s really unusual for a big private equity house to back a startup,” Varley said. “A lot of startups end up hand to mouth every week. We’ve had a little bit more luxury of space.”
After Varley and Thomas agreed to the deal with Warburg, they said they hired an independent firm to talk to prospective clients and gauge market sentiment for a firm like Unity. “The phrase that stuck in our mind was they were looking for something that was a modern advisory business,” he added. “That confirmed our confidence, and also, I think for Warburg, it confirmed their confidence in the proposition.”
James O’Gara, managing director and partner at Warburg Pincus, told City AM the “significant client demand that Unity Advisory is experiencing in its first year” has “confirmed our investment thesis that there is a global opportunity for a new and modern advisory firm.”
“The success of Unity Advisory to date has exceeded our expectations,” O’Gara said.
Last week, Unity opened its second office in Manchester, as the firm sets its sights on expanding its advisory footprint beyond the City and to “service the whole of the North-West,” according to Thomas.
The chief executive added there are “two reasons” for the Northern expansion, which are for “talent and clients”.
“We’ve got a growing book of business locally, a lot of clients that love our model and want something different, and we’ve got some very, very talented people that have joined us. It’s a really good market for professional services talent,” she added.