The Entourage launches growth fund to invest in Australian upstarts
- Written by Elise Hendriksen - McKell Media
The Entourage Growth Fund is the first of its kind in Australia - an early stage fund investing in a broad range of up-and-coming businesses, not just those in the burgeoning tech sector.
Jack Delosa, founder of The Entourage and BRW Young Rich Lister, says Entourage Growth Fund invests in the nation’s brightest companies from any growth industry. “The tech space has a lot of really good funds and people available to them through groups like Blackbird Ventures, Startmate, BlueChilli, Dominet Digital and Pollenizer,” Delosa says. “While we certainly invest in tech businesses, we think it’s time someone invested in upstarts in other thriving sectors.”
Along with providing the capital to enable great businesses to flourish, the Entourage Growth Fund also supports the people at the helm with a wealth of experience, skills and knowledge. The Entourage surrounds early stage businesses with Australia’s best entrepreneurs to help them build multi-million dollar companies.
Delosa says there’s been a sharp increase in demand for “smart money” among The Entourage community of 65,000 members in the past two years. “These early stage entrepreneurs need the cash but they want more than that - they want the experience that comes with the money. We deliver on both fronts.”
Entourage Growth Fund’s first investment in the upstart scene is with specialist recruitment firm Velocity Consulting. Delosa says it’s a company that ticks all the right boxes. “We invest first and foremost into great people and Velocity Consulting’s managing director Jade Green has previously helped build two recruitment companies. Now, we’re backing her to do it a third time.”
The Entourage Growth Fund assesses the future and likely growth potential of its investments and also looks for companies with aligning values. “The Entourage is a very vision, mission and values-driven organisation. We operate with a sense of purpose, it’s in our DNA, so it’s imperative that our partners are entrepreneurs with the same approach to business and life.”
The investment gives Velocity Consulting more capital to work with alongside access to The Entourage’s top entrepreneurs and its successful Scalable and Saleable Program.
Velocity Consulting is reaping yearly profits since launching three years ago with minimal funds. Green says the business has scaled up slowly on the back of its minimal startup capital. “We have been letting our results, behaviour and market presence do the talking for us however this investment of ‘smart money’ from the Entourage Growth Fund is a real game changer for us,” she says.
The investment will fast-track the next phase of Velocity Consulting’s growth plans. “We are adding additional staff to our Sydney office, opening a Melbourne office this year and we also have our sights set on Brisbane in 2016,” Green says. “Our vision is for Velocity Consulting to be the largest specialist sales recruiter in the Asia Pacific region by 2021. This investment also paves the way for us to roll out some additional service offerings, some of which have been in planning since our inception, which will be unmatched in the industry.”
The launch of the Entourage Growth Fund takes The Entourage beyond the education space and into a new investment arena. The Entourage now accelerates upstart entrepreneurs with both the education and finance to drive their own business dream.
Applications are welcome through http://www.the-entourage.com.
About: Jack Delosa, at the age of 27, became one of four new entries on the BRW Young Rich List for 2014, was named one of Australia’s top 10 entrepreneurs under 30 in Dynamic Business Magazine and in SmartCompany’s Hot 30 Under 30. The author of UnProfessional is educating and developing a new breed of entrepreneur with his trailblazing education institution.
About: Velocity Consulting is a specialist Talent Acquisition firm based in Sydney. This upstart assists companies in acquiring the best sales and executive talent across industry sectors including building and construction / architectural and design, industrial and manufacturing, banking, finance and insurance, recruitment to recruitment advertising, media and marketing, FMCG, medical, IT&T and professional services.
For more information visit www.velocityconsulting.com.au