Technology

Posted on May 3, 2019 by staff

LinkedIn disruptor smashes crowdfunding target

Technology

Tech firm JobLab has smashed its crowdfunding target by £100,000 and secured backing from PureGym founder Peter Roberts.

The graduate recruitment platform raised £300,000 on Crowdcube, with former UCAS chief executive Mary Curnock Cook also investing.

London-based JobLab allows candidates to upload ‘video cover letters’ and incentivises grads to engage with start-ups in return for JobLab Tokens, which can be exchanged for cash or cryptocurrency.

CEO Aidan Cramer said he wants the company to disrupt LinkedIn when it comes to recruitment, as JobLab already claims to have response rates five times better than the social site.

The platform has 32,000 members while its ‘Time to Offer’ is just 16 days.

“We want to be the UCAS for graduates, we want to help all graduates as they enter the world of work to find employment,” he told BusinessCloud.

“We want to be a disruptor to the LinkedIns of this world that are focused on helping recruiters hire – but we want to be that direct marketplace that connects companies with candidates.

“By starting off at a graduate level we can help people throughout their career.”

The crowdfund ended on Wednesday night with investment from 350 investors, as the company had a pre-money valuation of £3.5 million.

Speaking about the total fund, Cramer said: “It feels incredible, it’s just a massive relief, it’s been a full team effort to get there and there were times where we didn’t think we would be able to do it.

“It’s exciting what it means to be able to have that capital and to be able to grow the business the way we want to.

“There’s always the ambition that it’s going to get a lot bigger than it is and help millions of users and that hasn’t gone away, but in the back of your mind there’s also a certain level of doubt that this may not work out.

“It’s good to go through periods like this where you have some external validation that we’re moving in the right direction.

“After this round it’s all about getting our product in the hands of more graduates and more hiring companies.”

Peter Roberts, founder of PureGym, said: “The new types of businesses that will have market share will have found a way to align themselves so that every side is getting net positive value,” he said.

“JobLab adds value to employers, to candidates and to the business and ultimately investors. I know a winner when I see one.”