A start-up recruitment firm based online has teamed up with John Laithwaite Partners to raise funds for development.
Hiring-Hub will use the £500,000 it has raised to build a sales team to increase the volumes of vacancies on its platform. It will also hire account managers to ensure that those vacancies get filled.
Prior to the funding round Hiring-Hub had received initial seed money from friends and family before it launched to design and build its software platform. From there it has been bootstrapped by entrepreneurs Simon Swan and Sara Jones, who based the model on a system they had seen being successfully operated in the US.
Speaking to GrowthBusiness about the deal, Jones says, ‘During the first 18 months [of operation] we were very much your stereotypical bootstrapped startup, as we wanted to prove the concept before raising equity investment. Doing it that way made our business more attractive to potential funders.
‘We received a few offers from a number of different types of financial backers – from VC funds to angel investors – but as the business has always generated revenue, we took our time to find the right team and structure.’
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Hiring-Hub made contact with John Laithwaite Partners through an associate at the investment firm who had experience in the recruitment sector.
Jones says the partnership will bring a ‘vastly experienced team that have a proven track record’ when it comes to growing and selling businesses.
As part of the funding deal, Hiring-Hub is moving from Manchester to Bolton.
Explaining Hiring-Hubs targets for 2013, Jones adds, ‘Our targets are aggressive. We need to get the new starters up to speed quickly and spread the word that, firstly, Hiring-Hub.com exists and, secondly, exactly what it is and how it should be used.
‘We’re not messing around and we have a plan for world domination. We’ve already dug the foundations of a solid business, so 2013 is all about building on those.’
Jones also says that the deal has been structured so that, if needed, the business can access additional capital.
