Founded by Kevan Jones, James Basden and François Austin in 1999, Corven provides strategic business advice to companies in four sectors: oil and gas, utilities, financial services and central government. The firm has offices in London, Boston, Chicago and Hong Kong, and its clients include BP, Shell, Thames Water, National Grid, HSBC and Allianz. For example, Corven says it helped National Grid in America to improve its procurement process, resulting in cost savings of up to $500m (£300m). The company’s international sales have grown by 53% a year, from £2.4m in 2007 to £5.7m in 2009.