One complete model that advises executives, defines the outcomes, delivers the implementation, and guarantees the return.

Melbourne, Australia – Acquire Intelligence has announced the acquisition of Applied AI Australia, adding executive AI advisory to its consulting and implementation capability to create a complete business transformation model. Available immediately to existing clients and new organisations alike, it gives businesses access to a single firm that can arm executive teams with the commercial framework to make the right AI decisions, define the strategy, deliver the transformation end to end, and back the result with an ROI guarantee. The acquisition also brings the Applied AI Australia podcast, a platform streamed by Australian CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and board leaders making real AI decisions.

For Australian CEOs who have approved AI budgets, sat through vendor demos, and are still waiting for a result, the combination answers the questions that matter most before a dollar is committed. What should we actually invest in? What deserves governance? What should be stopped before it wastes capital? And once we move forward, what will we get, and what happens if we do not get it?

“”Adding Applied AI Australia to Acquire’s already established AI capability expands how we advise businesses on where AI actually pays off. AI is only useful if it does one of three things: grow the business with less, cut the cost of running it, or get the product out the door faster. Everything else is theatre. Our advisory finds the biggest and best wins for your business, the ones that deliver the most ROI without excessive costs or budget blowouts.” Scott Stavretis, CEO and Founder, Acquire Intelligence

What clients now have access to

What the acquisition creates is simple to describe and hard to replicate: a firm that advises the executives, delivers the transformation, and backs every engagement with an ROI guarantee. If viable value is not identified, consulting fees are refunded in full.

For executives that have approved AI budgets without a clear framework for evaluating them, Applied AI Australia’s advisory methodology now sits inside Acquire Intelligence’s engagement model, giving executive teams a dedicated AI decision framework at the front of every engagement, before scope is agreed and before implementation begins. From that foundation, executives move forward not just with a delivery plan, but with the strategic clarity and governance foundations that make that plan commercially defensible.

From there, Acquire Intelligence applies the full weight of its consulting, implementation, training, governance, and global outsourcing capability, experienced teams across Australia, the United States, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, with more than 20 years of operational delivery behind every engagement.

The mid-market opportunity: why this acquisition is perfectly timed

The Australian mid-market is the most underserved segment in enterprise AI. Approximately 25,520 companies generate a combined A$425 billion in revenue, sitting in the $100 million to $1 billion band where Big 4 firms cannot serve them profitably at scale and boutique operators cannot scale into them credibly. That structural gap has remained open while AI investment pressure has intensified. According to the Tech Council of Australia, 70 per cent of Australian CEOs rank AI a top investment priority, yet only 7 per cent of Australian leaders believe the country is ready for future AI demand. The top barriers are not technology problems. They are advisory problems: security and data privacy (45 per cent), workforce skills (37 per cent), and governance (36 per cent). These are precisely the problems Applied AI Australia was built to solve at the executive level, and that Acquire Intelligence is built to deliver on.

The market is moving quickly. Australian enterprise AI investment reached USD $644 million in 2024 and is projected to reach USD $4.14 billion by 2030, a compound annual growth rate of 37.4 per cent. Tier 1 global vendors hold 50 to 55 per cent of AI advisory globally. The remaining 45 to 50 per cent is contestable, and that is precisely where the combined Acquire Intelligence and Applied AI Australia model operates: credible enough to compete with the top end, agile enough to serve the mid-market at the speed and accountability it demands. The window to own this position is 12 to 18 months. Acquire Intelligence intends to use it.

Applied AI Australia: executive AI advisory and Australia’s leading boardroom AI podcast

Applied AI Australia is an operator-led executive AI advisory firm built specifically for Australian mid-market organisations running between $100 million and $1 billion in revenue, where leadership teams are under pressure to make AI commercially useful, well governed, and tied to a number someone owns. The firm was founded by Ramon Rodriguez, an executive operator with more than 15 years inside Australian business, including nine years at News Corp Australia leading a nine-figure P&L.

The firm’s advisory services span AI readiness assessments, executive briefings, strategy advisory, and governance frameworks. As part of the acquisition, Acquire Intelligence also gains the Applied AI Australia podcast, a platform that has earned a loyal following among Australian CEOs, CFOs, CIOs and leaders who are actively making AI investment decisions and want commercial signal, not vendor noise. Past guests include the SVP and GM of Okta, former CCO of Domain and ex-Google and Uber executive John Foong, CEO of Pathfindr Dawid Naude, a Director at PwC Australia, former CTO of Fujitsu and ex-PwC partner Anthony Mittelmark, and the GM of APAC at Notion. Topics span AI governance, board accountability, revenue impact, and operating model redesign. Every episode gives executives one action they can apply inside 48 hours. No vendor theatre, no tool reviews, no hype.

Ramon Rodriguez joins Acquire Intelligence as GM Market Advisory and continues as host of the Applied AI Australia podcast, bringing the platform’s executive audience and established credibility into the combined firm.

Scott Stavretis built an empire on knowing exactly when to act. Applied AI Australia was an easy call.
Scott Stavretis has spent his career making deliberate, high-conviction business moves. He founded ConnectDirect Internet at 16 and sold it four years later. He was a founding executive at Dodo Australia. He founded Secureway and Pendo Industries, acquired Club Telco, reverse-took over Eftel to become one of Australia’s youngest ASX CEOs at 31. He co-founded Books365, built and exited Bet247 and Yomojo, launched Acquire.AI in 2020, and merged it with Acquire BPO to form Acquire Intelligence in 2025. Each move has followed the same pattern: identify where the market is heading, acquire the capability to lead it, and back it commercially.

The acquisition of Applied AI Australia is no different, and the most complete move yet. Named Professional Services Executive of the Year at The CEO Magazine’s 2025 Executive of the Year Awards, Stavretis leads a firm that today operates across Australia, the United States, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic with over 9,500 people and more than 130 enterprise clients. The business has been built on a trademark three-part discipline, EAR: Eliminate wasted processes, systems, and costs that slow execution and add no value. Automate workflows and system tasks to reduce manual effort and drive speed. Reallocate work to the right people in the right place to minimise cost and maximise scale.

That delivery discipline now has a dedicated AI advisory layer at the front end, one purpose-built to brief and orient executive teams on where AI should and should not go before the work begins. Applied AI Australia ensures the strategy feeding into EAR is commercially sound before a single implementation decision is made. For Acquire Intelligence’s existing client base that includes some of the worlds leading brands, that capability is available immediately. For new clients, the message is simple: one firm, one model, one guarantee. From the first AI conversation to the outcome on the P&L, without compromise, and without apology.

About Acquire Intelligence

Acquire Intelligence transforms the way businesses grow and operate, combining intelligent outsourcing with AI implementation to unlock real performance gains. We help transform business by eliminating inefficiencies, automating with intent, and reallocating work to where it performs best. With teams across Australia, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and the United States, we deliver secure and scalable solutions in customer experience, back office, and digital operations.

Founded in 2006 by Scott Stavretis, we offer flexible delivery models including Remote Teams, Co-sourcing, and full service outsourcing. Our AI division helps clients fast track transformation with automation strategies that deliver measurable ROI, often guaranteed. All solutions are backed by deep expertise and enterprise-grade compliance. At Acquire Intelligence, we are Safe. Flexible. Innovative. That is how we deliver transformation with intent, impact and the entrepreneurial energy to make it real.

Media Contact

Evan Hinrichsen
Global Head of Marketing
Acquire Intelligence
M: +61 419984745
E: evan.hinrichsen@acquire.ai
W: acquire.ai