A global innovation agency created by four key industry figures has now gone live having been backed by 拢5m worth of investment.聽
Plus1 Assembly has been built by LADbible co-founder Arian Kalantari and former Nuevo CEO Jax Davey, alongside Lee Humphreys, who served as CEO of creative & digital at HH Global and Simba Investments founder Jake Brocklesby, who has led over 拢170m in assets under management.
The company is a brand innovation agency for founders, investors and marketers looking to ‘build what鈥檚 next’.
Having already received 拢5m in funding from Brocklesby鈥檚 Simba Investments, it has onboarded notable clients including SportTech Rezzil and Dubai-based CodeBlaze.聽
Plus1 Assembly has also acquired AI consultancy firm Layfe to further expand its growth.聽
It aims to help brands find a new edge and is built around three hubs – live signal engine HALO, consultancy LAYFE and insight-led fund RISE.聽
Its clients have the flexibility to use any hub it finds necessary and benefit from workflows and automation tools, which aim to support high-quality outcomes delivered quickly and at scale.
鈥淭his one鈥檚 been in the works for a while鈥nd we鈥檙e finally live,鈥� wrote Kalantari on LinkedIn.
鈥淚 spent 12 years building LADbible Group into one of the biggest youth media brands in the world. I wasn’t sure anything would match that early momentum. Building teams, winning customers, creating an incredible culture.
鈥淏ut over the last few months, this one has come pretty close. We’re disrupting the outdated model in 4 ways – AI at the core, deep cultural understanding, fast-moving execution, focused on outcomes, not hours.
鈥淚t’s taken months of late nights. Whiteboard sessions. Thousands of voice notes. All to bring this vision to life.
鈥淎nd I’ve loved every minute working with co-founder Jax Davey whose hunger, drive and obsession with excellence has brought this vision to life. We鈥檝e assembled an A-team of strategists, creatives and operators who just get it.鈥�
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CEO Davey, who is also an ex-Royal Marines Commando, added: 鈥淲e launched Plus1 Assembly today. It started with frustration. A sketch on a whiteboard. A midnight voice note sent many months ago.聽
鈥淣ow it鈥檚 real and is backed by 拢5 million in investment. I鈥檝e been lucky in my career, from serving in the Royal Marines, to building small agencies with big purpose, to leading creative, strategy and data at one of the world鈥檚 biggest marketing activation agencies.聽
鈥淲hat I鈥檝e learned? The hardest things are always the ones worth doing. They take more. But they give more too.
鈥淧lus1 is the most challenging and exciting thing I鈥檝e ever built. A new kind of innovation agency, for brands that want to move at the speed of culture.
鈥淔aster. Smarter. More collaborative. More accountable. Always plugged into what鈥檚 now and what鈥檚 next.
鈥淐o-building this with Arian Kalantari has been an absolute privilege. His instinct for culture and his pace changed everything.聽
鈥淲e鈥檝e pushed each other daily, and built something that already feels less like a company, and more like a mission. As a founder, there鈥檚 nothing better than seeing the thing that once lived in your head鈥� come alive.鈥�
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