U.K. company GuardianMPS to open 10-person Philly office

GuardianMPS, a U.K.-owned mobile software company, will open its U.S. headquarters in Philadelphia in early 2014, according to a release from the City of Philadelphia. One of its first major customers? The City of Philadelphia itself.

GuardianMPS will employ 10 and expects to grow to 30 over the next three years, according to the release.

The announcement comes at a time when Mayor Michael Nutter is in London on a trade mission, as we’ve reported, promoting Philadelphia as the ideal place to open up shop. Earlier this week, Nutter announced that the Mark Group, a British efficient energy provider with offices in the Navy Yard, would be adding 30 more jobs to its local office, which employs 155.

GuardianMPS, owned by the Northern Ireland-based Guardian24, piloted its software, aimed at keeping social workers safe, with the city’s Department of Human Services for three months, according to the city. The City of Philadelphia is now contracting with GuardianMPS, according to the release, making it the first U.S. city to use GuardianMPS’s technology. The city did not immediately respond to a request for the price of the contract, but we’ll update here as necessary.

GuardianMPS has not secured an office space yet, a Nutter spokesman told the Philadelphia Business Journal, though its website lists an address of Two Logan Square.