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Stuart Gentle Publisher at Onrec

Steven Bartlett Invests in Chapter 2, tech-enabled recruitment and talent company

Steven Bartlett (BBC Dragon’s Den, Diary of a CEO podcast host) today announces his investment in Chapter 2 to maximise and modernise the current outsourced recruitment model – reflecting the true hiring needs of today’s and tomorrow’s businesses.

  • Steven Bartlett invests in Chapter 2, to deliver faster, cheaper results than traditional methods 
  • The company was founded on the belief that the existing recruitment industry is outdated and ultimately, broken
  • Steven Bartlett and Chapter 2 join forces to combine expertise and build a future-proof recruitment platform for businesses worldwide

Steven Bartlett (BBC Dragon’s Den, Diary of a CEO podcast host) today announces his investment in Chapter 2 to maximise and modernise the current outsourced recruitment model – reflecting the true hiring needs of today’s and tomorrow’s businesses. 

Chapter 2 is a disruptive recruitment tech and talent agency that builds and designs scalable talent solutions to deliver better results and cost savings for clients, faster. Combining the pace and flexibility of ​an agency with the cultural understanding ​of an in-house team, Chapter 2’s model is delivered via their 3 key pillars; People, Process and Technology – each tailored to every client’s specific needs. Having the likes of John Lewis and Bumble on their client roster, Chapter 2 has driven impressive growth to date (248% CAGR).

Passionate about expanding global brands and embedding the right talent where it matters, Leo Harrison founded Chapter 2 pre-covid, in 2020, to solve a problem that he had experienced increasingly in his former role as COO at OLIVER Agency – that of costly talent acquisition, and an industry not fit for purpose. Steven Bartlett’s recognition of this wider problem led to his decision to invest in Chapter 2, identifying the company as a pioneer within the space.

Steven Bartlett comments; “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 join Steven Bartlett’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.

Leo Harrison, founder & CEO of Chapter 2, adds; “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.”