Stagwell just set up an incubator fund aimed squarely at adtech and AI-powered marketing tools. The vehicle is called Quarter Creek Ventures, and the model is straightforward: Stagwell takes a minority stake in selected projects, then backs them with seed funding (amounts not disclosed) plus practical help getting products built and into market.
Beyond the check, the pitch is access—operational support across strategy, design, tech, and go-to-market execution, along with client introductions, infrastructure, and mentorship from senior leadership. The fund is overseen by Stagwell CIO Niels Laurberg, with final picks shaped alongside CEO Mark Penn, Chief Strategy Officer Jason Reid, and CFO Ryan Greene—so this isn’t being run out of a spare conference room.
Stagwell also pointed to Targeted Victory as a “this is what we mean” example: the digital strategy shop founded by Zac Moffett in 2009 that Stagwell first backed as a minority investor in 2017, then moved to majority ownership in 2018. The timing lines up with Stagwell’s recent agency reshuffle too—last month it consolidated its communications and advocacy agencies into one division and put Moffett in the global chair seat, suggesting Quarter Creek Ventures could become a pipeline for both new tech and new capabilities.
Read more at MediaPost.