FBI Talent

What FBI Talent does

FBI Talent Co. is a privately held, Australia-domiciled recruitment firm founded in 1994 that specializes in placing creative, design, and creative services talent into agencies, brands, and corporate clients across global markets. The firm operates two physical offices (Sydney as global headquarters and a USA office established in January 2014) and reports successful placements across 14 countries including Australia, the USA, the UK, Western Europe, the UAE, and East and Southeast Asia.

The company's product surface spans four core service lines: Freelance Recruitment, Permanent Recruitment, Global Recruitment, and Payroll Services, supported by the LAUNCH Programme (a student competition with Akcelo and DDB Australia offering full-time employment to winning teams) and an annual Salary Guide. The technology stack is non-proprietary, consisting of standard business tools including the Shazamme website platform and Jobadder applicant tracking system, with no disclosed AI/ML capability. Revenue is generated through contingency placement fees on permanent roles, margin on freelance contractor bill rates, managed-services revenue from payroll administration, and registration-based content leads from the salary report.

The client base includes 17 named enterprise logos spanning advertising holding companies (Publicis Groupe, Omnicom, M&C Saatchi, R/GA, Mother London), broadcasters (Nine Network, SBS, Foxtel, Stan), professional services (KPMG, Deloitte), technology (Canva), travel (Qantas), and real estate (Charter Hall). The team of approximately 11-50 employees is led by Global CEO Michael Kean and comprises practitioners with prior careers as art directors, design leads, and senior creative recruiters at agencies including CP+B and Leo Burnett.

Name

FBI Talent

Legal name

FBI Talent Co.

Website

https://fbitalent.co

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

FBI Talent is a privately held creative-industry recruitment firm founded in 1994, placing freelance and permanent creative, design, and creative services talent into agencies and enterprise clients across 14 countries, with offices in Sydney and the USA.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Creative Industry Recruitment Services

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311), Employment Placement Agencies and Executive Search Services (56131)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Professional & Technical Direct Hire (IT, Engineering, Finance, Healthcare) (BPACAFAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Human Resources & Talent (EDAAAPAM)

Keywords

• Creative recruitment services
• Talent acquisition
• Creative staffing
• Permanent placement
• Freelance talent matching

Headquarters

HQ city

Surry Hills

HQ country

Australia

HQ region

Oceania

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Permanent Placement Recruitment: Contingency-based recruitment fees for placing permanent employees with agencies and corporate clients. FBI Talent acts as career advisors, mentors and coaches while identifying suitable permanent roles for talent.
2. Freelance/Contractor Talent Placement: Connecting freelance creative talent with agencies and corporations for short-term, long-term contract support, or curated talent rosters. Revenue generated through margin on contractor rates.
3. Payroll Services: FBI engages freelancers through their payroll system, managing PAYG withholding, superannuation, workers compensation, and payroll tax. They process weekly payroll and provide transparent invoicing via their internal timesheet system. Revenue likely generated through service fees or margin on payroll processing.
4. Salary Report Subscription: Registration-based access to salary guide reports for the creative industry. Users provide contact details to download the 2026 Salary Guide PDF.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

FBI Talent Co. is a global recruitment firm that identifies, manages, coaches and connects creative, design, and creative services professionals with agencies and brands across major international markets. The company provides freelance talent placement, permanent executive and mid-level hiring, cross-border recruitment across the USA, Australia, UK, Europe and Asia, and payroll administration services for contractor engagements.

Product overview

FBI Talent Co. is a global recruitment company for creative industries operating as a talent management network. The company offers four interconnected core services: Freelance Recruitment (connecting freelance talent with agencies), Permanent Recruitment (full-time placement with career advisory support), Global Recruitment (cross-border placement across USA, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Europe, Asia, Canada, and UAE), and Payroll Services (administrative payroll management for contractors). Supporting these core offerings are the LAUNCH Programme (student competition for talent development) and an annual Salary Report resource. The platform specializes in Creative, Design, and Creative Services sectors, covering roles in art direction, copywriting, design, production, project management, and operations.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• LAUNCH Programme: A program powered by Akcelo, offering students and emerging talent opportunities in the creative industry, with winners receiving full-time job offers.

Products and services

• Freelance Recruitment
• Permanent Recruitment
• Global Recruitment
• Payroll Services

Named customers17 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• AkcelocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerAkcelo powers FBI Talent Co.'s LAUNCH Programme, an initiative offering students real-world experience and potential full-time employment with agency partners like DDB Australia. The programme includes a competition element where student teams compete for employment opportunities with agency partners.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Aquent: Largest specialist staffing firm for the creative, marketing and digital industries, offering permanent, freelance and managed services placement globally. Most directly comparable peer to FBI Talent given shared creative-only focus, freelance/permanent dual model and multinational client base.
• 24 Seven Talent: Creative, marketing and digital talent staffing firm providing contract, freelance, temp-to-perm and direct-hire services to agencies and brands. Closely comparable in service mix, target buyer (agency and brand creative teams) and freelancer-led GTM motion.
• Onward Search: Specialist staffing firm placing creative, digital, marketing and communications talent on contract and direct-hire engagements. Direct peer given shared creative/digital specialization and agency + brand buyer base.
• Profiles: Staffing and recruiting firm focused on creative, digital, marketing and technology talent across contract, contract-to-hire and direct-hire engagements. Highly comparable service mix and target customer profile to FBI Talent.
• Mondo: Specialist staffing provider for digital, creative, technology and marketing professionals, offering contract and direct-hire placements. Comparable offering and buyer profile, particularly in the digital creative and brand-side segments.
• Vitamin T (Aquent): Creative and digital freelance talent staffing firm operating under the Aquent umbrella. Direct overlap with FBI Talent's freelance recruitment service line and design/art direction focus.
• Artisan Talent Group: Creative and digital staffing firm placing designers, art directors, copywriters, developers and production talent. Closely comparable niche focus on creative freelancers and contract talent.
• Salt Recruitment: Global digital, creative, technology and marketing recruitment firm with offices across multiple regions. Comparable in cross-border creative recruitment model and freelance + permanent service mix.

Broad incumbents

• The Creative Group (Robert Half): Permanent and contract staffing division of Robert Half focused on creative, marketing and communications roles. Comparable in offering and customer base but operates inside a much larger, diversified staffing parent.

Emerging players

• Filter (Commerce & Digital Talent): Boutique staffing firm specializing in digital commerce, marketing and creative talent for agencies and brands. Smaller and more digitally focused than FBI but overlapping service mix and target buyers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fbitalentco
• Facebookfacebook.com/serioustalent
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/fbitalentco

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about FBI Talent