{"id":44303,"date":"2023-10-20T15:34:58","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:34:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/fifth-biggest-ad-agency-in-the-world-havas-launches-australian-venture-capital-fund-to-back-emerging-startups-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:34:58","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:34:58","slug":"fifth-biggest-ad-agency-in-the-world-havas-launches-australian-venture-capital-fund-to-back-emerging-startups-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/fifth-biggest-ad-agency-in-the-world-havas-launches-australian-venture-capital-fund-to-back-emerging-startups-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth biggest ad agency in the world Havas launches Australian venture capital fund to back emerging startups – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Havas<\/div>\n

Havas, the fifth largest advertising agency in the world, has launched a Series A venture capital fund in Australia to help high-growth ventures continue to excel after a first round of funding.<\/p>\n

Havas Ventures founder and executive director Eddie Wilson says the fund will be targeting a range of businesses across health, agritech, retail and fintech.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t use the word startups,\u201d Wilson tells StartupSmart.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re open to all industries and all technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program will focus on four key areas: strategic consultancy, fully integrated marketing, direct investment and global network access.<\/p>\n

It will offer businesses either direct investment, in-kind services, commercial partnerships or opportunities to work with Havas\u2019 agencies.<\/p>\n

Havas Ventures’ program was inspired by the mantra of business scholar Peter Drucker that \u201cinnovation and marketing\u201d are the only two things that make money, Wilson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are cynicisms about corporate venture models and I shared that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Because of this, Wilson says he has spent the past 12 months working on a model that has \u201csubstance\u201d and is actively supported by the corporate giant\u2019s leadership team including a \u201cfull buy-in\u201d at CEO-level.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to have direct VC-entrepreneurial experience leading the division,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cEnsure the model is predicated on ventures beyond the startup phase \u2013 we need to be working with people who have more than just good ideas.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re creating a vehicle that can genuinely drive growth beyond passive capital with marketing capabilities and access to customers.”<\/p>\n

Considering the 90% failure rate of new ventures, Wilson says that marketing is the missing element.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a history in venture capital and entrepreneurialism,” he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me, it was all about finding a vehicle that could genuinely affect the growth of emerging businesses.\u201d<\/p>\n

To work with Havas Ventures, startups can submit an application online, which begins with two questions to determine if marketing will be a key driver of their success: “Does your venture have a working product and paying customers?” and “Is the primary aim to reach and acquire new customers?”<\/p>\n

After answering this, applicants will be led to a \u201cmore prescriptive form\u201d.<\/p>\n

Wilson says startups may also contact him or Havas Ventures\u2019 commercial partner directly.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sort of pre-launch appetite has been terrific,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost people in this area realise they\u2019re essentially looking for capital and customers.\u201d<\/p>\n

For founders seeking investment, Wilson says that they\u2019re at the \u201cembryonic stages of a fund\u201d so they won\u2019t be making many just yet.<\/p>\n

But he says that founders who speak to the following points in detail backed by empirical data will have a good baseline to negotiate on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave a clear definition of the problem your business addresses,\u201d Wilson says.<\/p>\n

\u201cProvide an in-depth understanding of your customer or target audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemonstrate the benefits of your products and specifically how agents and clients will benefit from using your technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cProvide clear business metrics like cost of customer acquisition and life-time value of customers.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemonstrate a distinct line of revenue and associated growth rates.\u201d<\/p>\n

Follow StartupSmart on<\/em> Facebook,<\/em> Twitter, <\/em>LinkedIn and <\/em>SoundCloud<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Havas, the fifth largest advertising agency in the world, has launched a Series A venture capital fund in Australia to help<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44303"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44303"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44303\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}