A GLASGOW-based video interview platform has raised more than £1.5 million to drive further expansion in the US.
Willo has announced plans to significantly scale up its presence in North America after raising the funds from 1818 Venture Capital.
The US market already accounts for more than 65% of Willo’s revenues, with the firm working with major clients including Coinbase, Chick-fil-A, and Sureify.
Willo – which describes itself as one of the world’s fastest-growing async video interview platforms – currently operates in more than 180 countries.
Willo’s turnover is set to pass £1m for the first time in January 2023, and the firm remains on target to grow that figure to more than £40m by the end of 2025.
Willo’s success in the US has been attributed to the rapid growth of asynchronous working – when teams work without communicating simultaneously allowing companies to effectively operate across multiple time zones – which experts estimate can save firms thousands of pounds per employee each year. It has been labelled "the async movement".
The ramping up of Willo’s US operation includes a new headquarters in New York City – set to open in February 2023 – that will initially provide a base for a seven-strong US sales and customer support team.
The new US hires are part of a global recruitment drive that will more than double Willo’s total headcount. The firm plans to bring on board 25 new team members to drive further growth in the US, UK, and Asian markets.
Key investors in the latest round – which takes the total investment in UK-based Willo since it was founded in 2018 to more than £2.5m – include former Mimecast GM Alan Kenny, finance expert Julien Nurse, and Freeserve pioneer Mark Danby.
Euan Cameron, Willo’s chief executive who co-founded the business with Andrew Wood in Glasgow in 2018 before it launched in January 2020, said: “The way the US market has embraced Willo’s technology has been astounding, and this latest investment will enable us to meet the booming demand for async hiring tools among businesses and organisations of all sizes.
“Whilst the US is our biggest market at present, the rest of the world is catching up, there is rising demand around the world as the async message spreads, and by more than doubling our headcount we will be able to service it too."
Richard Avery-Wright, founding partner of 1818 Venture Capital, said: “For obvious reasons, the adoption of both asynchronous and distributed working and hiring practices has accelerated over the last few years.
“Willo is a best-in-class platform purpose-built to support these new modes of hiring. In addition to huge efficiency gains and demonstrable return on investment – saving more than 4,000 hours per year for 100+ clients – Willo delivers an outstanding experience for both employers and applicants alike."
Graeme Roy: History’s valuable lessons in the economic fundamentals
LATER this week, we will have updated projections to accompany the Scottish Budget from the Scottish Fiscal Commission. These will extend for five years and give an overview of trends in growth and employment.
It is only natural that so much attention is given to the immediate outlook for the economy. We are all interested in how growth will perform in the near term and the consequences for government revenues. But, in doing so, it often crowds out a wider appreciation of the structural changes that will have a greater impact on our economic future.
Fishing banned under SNP-Green marine protection plan
SCOTTISH ministers have unveiled plans to designate at least ten per cent of Scotland’s seas as Highly Protected Marine Areas (HPMAs).
This would effectively ban fishing in a bid to allow decimated sea life to recover. The tough new regulations would also prohibit any industrial activities in the area, including dredging and cabling for windfarms.
Sign up for free: You can now get the briefing sent direct to your email inbox twice-daily, and Business Week for the seven-day round-up on Sunday 👇
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here