Venture technology agency BlueChilli says it is on track to invest in 100 start-ups by 2016, after announcing it has joined forces with Deloitte Private’s Entrepreneur Connect program.
BlueChilli, led by Sebastien Eckersley-Maslin, combines software development, marketing, branding and business development skills with investments in online start-ups.
Using this strategy, dubbed “venture technology”, BlueChilli has made 24 investments to date and is on track to invest in 100 start-ups by 2016.
A key part of this plan is a new partnership with Deloitte Private’s Entrepreneur Connect program, which encapsulates compliance, business coaching and connectivity.
Under the agreement, this program will be offered to BlueChilli start-ups, which will have all of their bookkeeping and accounting services looked after by Deloitte Private.
Deloitte Private will also tap into its broad network and client base to assist BlueChilli companies.
“Josh [Tanchel] from Deloitte actually approached us,” Eckersley-Maslin told StartupSmart.
“Josh is quite involved in the start-up space… We’d met a few times and he pitched the concept to us, and we decided to explore it further.
“We already have a couple of start-ups getting their books transferred across [to Deloitte] as we speak. They’re pretty excited actually.
“Deloitte is able to do all their financial services for a few hundred [dollars] a month, so the cash outlay is quite low.”
Eckersley-Maslin says start-ups can already see the benefits of having Deloitte on board.
“The advantage of having Deloitte as your bookkeeper and accountant has not gone unnoticed on them,” he says.
“All of our start-ups will do an angel round. The confidence it gives them and investors [is significant] because they’re being looked after by a reputable organisation.”
According to Eckersley-Maslin, the partnership also enables entrepreneurs to focus on building their businesses, rather than worrying about compliance.
“It is a boring thing for business founders and most founders don’t like doing it,” he says.
“This is a program that has been developed to work with BlueChilli’s process and it means that it will grow as our start-ups grow.”
Tanchel said in a statement the partnership with BlueChilli has enabled Deloitte Private to develop an “innovative gateway” to its accounting, tax and business advisory services.
“The business coaching support is particularly valuable, allowing start-up and early growth companies to access support and advice that goes beyond their statutory obligations,” he said.
“They will now have access to a wealth of experience and knowledge from across Deloitte Private’s business advisors.
“We’re also looking forward to listening to the members of BlueChilli’s start-up community to find out how else we can adapt our services and approach to better support their growth.”
