GLASGOW-based recruitment technology firm Candidate.ID has won £500,000 backing from a range of investors including industry big guns amid strong demand for its products.
The company is on course to record £1 million revenues this year from the sale of software that allows firms to identify suitable recruits and to cultivate links with them.
Customers include Nationwide and Specsavers.
Technology pioneer hails quality of staff available in Glasgow
The success of the latest funding round suggests Candidate.ID has made a big impression among recruitment and human resources experts although it was only founded in 2016.
The company said it raised £500,000 crowdfunding in four weeks from 550 investors.
The investors include former RBS global human resources director Neil Roden and influential US recruitment industry commentator Tim Sackett.
Candidate.ID’s chief executive Adam Gordon said the funding round provided a notable vote of confidence in the company’s growth potential.
“Over half of our investors are directly involved in HR and recruitment and include some truly world-famous practitioners within the discipline,” he noted.
Candidate.ID secured a six-figure investment from a German financial services firm, Jakobo Invest, in April.
German investors buy stake in Glasgow technology firm
The company plans to invest in adding new capabilities to its technology as it eyes expansion in overseas markets such as the USA.
But growth prospects in the domestic market also appear to be bright.
While the UK labour market appears to be cooling amid the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, Candidate.ID has seen no sign that employers are cutting recruitment activity.
Mr Gordon noted the company’s technology appears to be in particularly strong demand among firms that are looking for people with sales and software development skills.
Candidate.ID expects to recruit four software engineers to work on its plan to offer customers technology that will allow them to create ‘self-building’ campaigns designed to appeal to potential recruits.
These could feature automatically generated communications such as e-mails, with embedded links to material on the internet that could be expected to interest readers based on their usage of social media.
Mr Gordon said the company expects to grow employee numbers in Glasgow from 15 to around 20 over the next year.
It expects to grow turnover to £2million next year. The company is following a plan Mr Gordon expects will allow it to move into profit in the third quarter of next year.
The firm generates around 50 per cent of revenues overseas currently.
A graduate of Strathclyde university, Mr Gordon founded Candidate.ID with Scott McRae in 2016 after working in recruitment, human resources and marketing for a range of firms including Norman Broadbent and PwC. Mr McRae trained in marketing at consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble.
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