Recruitment disrupter Hiring Hub raises £1.4M

Hiring Hub co-founder Simon Swan

The online marketplace helps companies find and work with trusted recruitment agencies has raised new investment in a round led by Maven Capital Partners, on behalf of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund.

The firm says the investment will enable the Manchester based Hiring Hub to further develop its proprietary platform, invest in marketing activity to fuel growth and strengthen its leadership team with an illustrious line-up of proven specialists.

“Recruitment was the original people business, yet nowadays it feels increasingly impersonal and commoditised, which has led to recruitment agencies being viewed as a necessary evil rather than professional advisors that deliver a valuable service,” said Swan, who co-founded the business in 2010 with Sara Jones, who exited last year.

“At Hiring Hub, we’re using technology to enable better relationships between employers and agencies, and address many of the industry’s core issues.

“This Maven understood, and with the market shifting towards smaller, independent agencies – who now represent over 80 per cent of the supply chain – Hiring Hub is well-positioned to challenge the bigger brands while helping companies find the talent they need faster, and at a lower cost through specialist suppliers, rather than a large, traditional recruitment agency that deliver a slow, expensive, and commoditised service.”

Using the platform, employers post their vacancy for free and set a fee they would be willing to pay an agency if it found them a candidate they wanted to hire. Agencies selected by the employer can then submit their best candidates, allowing the employer to manage their recruitment activity in one place.

There are 400 employers including BASF and B&M Retail on the platform, which Hiring Hub says is proven to reduce time-to-hire to an average of just 20 days, cut recruitment costs, and improve quality of hire.

It uses historic performance data to rate and rank the recruitment agencies within its community, and is developing an AI solution to improve its recommendation engine and give employers greater market insights.

Hiring Hub’s board and leadership team includes James Kydd, ex-Virgin Brand and Marketing Director; interim CFO Pete Wade, formerly of eBay in San Francisco; CTO Anna Dick, who has led teams at Moneysupermarket, On The Beach, the BBC and Co-op; and ex-Laterooms marketing director Georgina Crosswell.

Gavin Bell, investment manager at Maven, said: “We are delighted to invest in Simon and Hiring Hub’s innovative technology platform.

“With a strong board and entrepreneurial team, we believe that the business is well-positioned for rapid expansion as it disrupts this growing market.

“NPIF investments continue to support innovative businesses like Hiring Hub to fulfil their potential, and we look forward to working with the team.”