Steven Bartlett of Dragon’s Den panel, Diary of a CEO host and Social Chain founder fame, is branching out again with his latest investment in ‘disruptive, tech-enabled recruitment tech and talent agency’ Chapter 2.
Chapter 2 says that it “builds and designs scalable talent solutions to deliver better results and cost savings for clients, faster.” It promises to combine the pace and flexibility of an agency with the cultural understanding of an in-house team, delivering its model through its three key pillars of People, Process and Technology, each tailored to every client’s specific needs.
More tangibly, the company was founded in 2020 by former OLIVER Agency global CEO Leo Harrison to solve a problem that he had experienced frequently in the previous role – that of costly talent acquisition, and an industry not fit for purpose. It counts the likes of John Lewis and Bumble on its client roster, and it claims a compound annual growth rate of 248% since launch.
Bartlett said: “The definition of the word ‘company’ is ‘group of people.’ Hiring a great group of people is the single, most important, fundamental objective of any company that has the potential to be great. I’ve spent years trying to build a talent solution that would allow my companies and I, to find, attract and recruit the world’s best talent.
“The issue I’ve found is; that typical recruitment companies are expensive, have misaligned incentives and don’t understand our company’s culture. Then I discovered Chapter 2, a company designed to fix all of this, led by Leo who is one of the best entrepreneurs I’ve ever met.
“I knew we had to join forces to power my company’s talent needs; Flight Group, but also to help high-potential companies all over the world to meet their talent needs.”
Based in the United Kingdom, United States, South Africa, India and Germany, with a global reach, Chapter 2 will joinBartlett’s business ecosystem, with the aim of keeping its clients at the forefront of the changing digital media landscape. The teams will combine expertise to build a future-proof recruitment platform and accelerate the pace of growth for the best businesses worldwide.
Chapter 2 founder and CEO Harrison added: “I genuinely believe that the recruitment and talent acquisition space is slow, expensive and ripe for disruption. Attracting and retaining the top 0.1% is harder than ever in a saturated market. As the Global COO of OLIVER Agency, our biggest challenge was retaining the culture and quality we had built while scaling our team, at pace, globally. I quickly realised this was due to the recruitment industry simply not being fit for purpose, and why I founded Chapter 2.
“With Steven’s collaboration, Chapter 2 will amplify our reach for our business and our clients. Together we can ensure Chapter 2 provides our current and prospective clients with a first-class talent solution that delivers results.”
