Former Dragons' Den star James Caan has invested in a Manchester-based recruitment start-up.
Through his private equity firm Recruitment Entrepreneur, the investor has provided a six-figure sum to Pursuit.
The company, which has an office in Deansgate, was founded by chief executive Thomas Keighley earlier this year.
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Pursuit is aiming to become the leading specialist sales recruiter in the market and to have a headcount of 20 in the next three years.
Mr Keighley started his career as an apprentice sales executive at BMW in Blackburn in October 2011.
He then moved on to become a recruitment consultant at Pertempts Network Group in March 2013 before joining QA Ltd and rising to head of sales by the time he left in November 2019.
He has also worked for the likes of LIMA, TK Sales Consultancy, Hiring Hub and AlphaSights.
Mr Keighley said: "I live and breathe the industry and have worked in every sales role from a sales development representative to sales director and wanted to use my experience and knowledge to create something special.
"I saw RE’s experience of launching, scaling and exiting businesses as a huge advantage for Pursuit, as well as having the teams support including Abid Hamid and James Caan by my side."
Recruitment Entrepreneur's portfolio also includes the likes of King Recruit, Baldwin Boyes and Hayward Hawk.
Abid Hamid, CEO of Recruitment Entrepreneur, added: "We’re really looking forward to seeing how Tom’s vision of attracting talent within the Gen Z market develops alongside supporting his journey within the portfolio."
James Caan said: "Having initially met Tom to hear about its business, it was clear from the onset he wanted to do things differently, to rethink how Gen Z/Millennials look to start or progress within their careers and how people think about sales.
"I was intrigued to see how Pursuit was going to be positioned as a unique recruitment company within the space – it’s a different and exciting business model to what we have seen in the past and I can’t wait to help drive Pursuit with him."
