Starting a business in Australia is tough. Of the 2.5 million businesses registered for GST, 98% are small businesses, and nearly 60% don’t make it past their first three years. Money helps, but it’s rarely enough on its own. BDC Investments Group was built around this reality—founded by people who’ve run franchises and retail businesses themselves, the group provides both capital and hands-on support to help Australia’s emerging franchisors and retailers actually grow.
What BDC Investments Does
BDC Investments Group sits within the broader BDC Partners network. Their focus is straightforward: they invest in promising franchise and retail businesses and work directly with them to increase profitability and value for shareholders.
Jon Sully, Managing Director, oversees deal flow, operations, and reporting. Under his leadership, the group has built a portfolio that includes brands like ComputerXplorers (a UK-based concept operating in Australia and the US), Bubba Pizza (a 25-year-old Australian pizza brand), SIGNWAVE (the Australian master franchisee of the US-backed FASTSIGNS network), and House of Golf, a growing golf retailer.
The Goal: Building Significant Value
BDC Investments has set out to build a billion-dollar asset portfolio by investing in multiple emerging businesses—whether they’re already franchised or preparing to franchise. The vision is about creating sustainable growth that works for the businesses, their founders, and investors.
Their approach centres on three things:
- Identifying franchise concepts with real potential and helping them scale
- Using capital and operational knowledge to improve business performance
- Delivering strong returns while creating lasting value for founders and operators
Why So Many Businesses Struggle
The challenges facing small businesses in Australia are well-documented. In 2023 alone, around 475,000 new businesses launched. Most didn’t survive long.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics points to several common problems:
- Insufficient market demand: Many businesses launch without truly understanding what customers need or how to stand out from competitors
- Financial mismanagement: Running out of cash, poor planning, and weak financial controls are frequent killers
- Lack of strategic planning: Without a clear direction, businesses struggle to anticipate problems or spot opportunities
- Execution failures: Even good strategies fall apart without strong leadership, operations, or marketing
More Than Just Money
What sets BDC Investments apart is the depth of involvement. The team has spent decades in strategy, operations, and scaling businesses across different industries. They don’t just write checks—they work alongside the businesses they invest in.
The partnership looks like this:
- Strategic guidance: Collaborating with founders to build realistic growth plans
- Operational support: Streamlining processes and improving efficiency
- Commercial insight: Drawing on market knowledge to spot opportunities and navigate challenges
Jon Sully describes different phases of leadership. During critical moments, the team takes a “wartime leader” approach—making quick decisions and optimising performance. In more stable times, they shift to “peacetime leadership,” focusing on sustainable growth and long-term value.
Through BDC Partners and the BDC Collective network, portfolio companies can access advisors in Property and Site selection, Legal matters, Franchise Recruitment, Performance & Talent Acquisition, and Marketing. The wider Collective businesses include Fordhams Group, GapMaps, Associated Projects, Benjamin & Benjamin Insurance, and Little Giant Finance—all focused on supporting franchise growth.
Bruce McFarlane, CEO of BDC Partners and director of BDC Investments, sees his teams as extensions of the franchise and retail businesses they support, not just external advisors.
SIGNWAVE: A Recent Example
SIGNWAVE provides custom signage, graphic design, and visual communication for businesses of all sizes. Their services cover everything from initial design consultation through to installation and maintenance of banners, vehicle graphics, and digital displays.
Since partnering with BDC Investments, SIGNWAVE has expanded its headquarters operations team to better support franchisees, improved customer engagement, and strengthened its presence across Australia.
BDC’s involvement goes beyond funding. They’ve helped SIGNWAVE streamline operations, refine marketing strategies, and expand service capabilities. It’s a practical demonstration of how capital combined with operational experience can help a business grow.
Building for the Long Term
BDC Investments is working to address the real challenges of small business growth and franchise scalability in Australia. Their long-term strategy involves:
- Finding high-potential businesses: Targeting emerging franchises with scalable models and clear growth paths
- Providing flexible capital: Offering funding structures that match the specific needs of franchise operations
- Improving operations: Helping with everything from supply chain management to marketing and talent
- Aligning interests: Building value for both investors and founders
The combination of these elements creates a model for sustainable success in a difficult market.
A Partnership Approach
In a landscape where close to half of new businesses fail to reach profitability, BDC Investments Group offers something different for emerging franchises and retail businesses. Led by Jon Sully, the group brings together capital, operational experience, and strategic knowledge to help businesses grow and build lasting value.
The work with companies like SIGNWAVE shows how this approach works in practice—taking promising businesses and helping them develop into stable franchises with solid foundations and clear paths forward.
For Australian entrepreneurs looking to franchise or scale retail operations, BDC Investments provides partnership, guidance, and practical support based on real experience. With BDC in their corner, emerging businesses get the tools they need to avoid common pitfalls and reach their potential.
Bruce is the CEO of BDC Partners, a network of professional services firms dedicated to helping franchisors and retailers grow and scale their businesses. With more than 30 years of experience in both law and business, he brings deep expertise in franchising, mergers & acquisitions and commercial law through specialist firm, BDC Law. Bruce works closely his former franchisor business partners as part of BDC Strategy, where they provide practical advisory services to emerging franchisors and retailers.
Bruce’s involvement in the franchisor sector is broad and hands-on as he also serves as a director at Hattch, an innovative franchise lead generation platform, and is a franchisee, with his daughters, of Recovery Lab Mornington.
In addition, Bruce sits on the board of BDC Investments Group, where he plays a key role in sourcing, evaluating, and supporting investments in emerging and established franchise and retail brands. With his strategic direction and oversight, the group has built a diverse portfolio that includes ComputerXplorers, Bubba Pizza, SIGNWAVE and House of Golf, each reflecting BDC’s focus on scalable growth and long-term value creation.
Finally, Bruce has been an elected member of the Franchise Council of Australia’s Victorian State Committee for 15 years and runs the Events Sub-committee.