Job search site Adzuna raises £1.5m via Crowdcube to ‘Get Britain Working’

Oversubscribed fundraising demonstrates public enthusiasm for improving the UK job market; The company plans to use the funds to build smarter job search technology & grow internationally; Adzuna is already backed by some of Europe’s top investors - Index Ventures, Passion Capital; The campaign has attracted a number of celebrity investors - from £billion CEOs to famous DJs

 Adzuna.co.uk, the fastest-growing job search engine in Europe, which is backed by venture capital firms Index Ventures, The Accelerator Group and Passion Capital, has raised more than £1.5m through the UK’s leading equity crowdfunding platform, Crowdcube.

Launched in July 2011, Adzuna aims to become the world’s leading job search engine, by bringing together all the vacancies in one place and connecting users with them in new ways. The site already attracts six million visits a month and has helped hundreds of thousands of people find jobs. In addition to listing over 1m UK vacancies, the sites ‘ValueMyCV’ technology helps British jobseekers understand what they are worth in today’s job market and helps match them to better, more fulfilling careers.

More than 400 ‘crowd’ investors, have backed the ‘Get Britain Working’ campaign so far ranging from CEO’s and Tech Celebrities such as Sherry Coutu (CBE) and Klaus Nyengaard (former Just Eat CEO) to university students and plumbers.  The largest single investment to date is more than £200,000. The average investment size is £3,765 and the smallest amount invested is £13.

Existing Adzuna investor Robin Klein, founder of The Accelerator Group and widely recognised as one of Europe’s top investors, commented: “We’re delighted to be working with Andrew and Doug, experienced entrepreneurs with great track records from Gumtree, Qype and Zoopla. The Adzuna team has achieved a great deal in a short period of time, and we believe the innovations they continue to bring to the market will change the way people search for jobs, globally.”

Luke Lang, co-founder of Crowdcube, said: “Enabling people to invest in some of Britain’s brightest young companies, alongside world-renowned venture capital firms and acclaimed angel investors, on Crowdcube is now commonplace and vividly shows how we’ve become an accepted part of venture capital landscape in the UK.

“VC-backed, high-growth businesses, like Adzuna, with seasoned management teams, demonstrable market traction and global ambition are at the vanguard of this transformation, which marks a decisive tipping point as crowdfunding gains critical mass and comes of age.”

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, commented: “We are proud of the world-class team and platform we have built at Adzuna, but we still have a long way to go in job search innovation, mobile apps and internationalisation.”

Capital raised from the campaign will be used to grow internationally and invest in Adzuna’s technology, building on a market-leading search and machine-learning platform that brings together over one million UK job ads in one place, and adds smart search options and powerful data about the job market.

You can see the Adzuna pitch here www.crowdcube.com/adzuna. Please remember that investments of this nature carry risks to your capital as well as potential rewards so you should read the full pitch and associated risk warning to ensure you are #InvestAware.

Major Boost To UK Robotics Capability With Launch of EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network

 New RAS Network Brings Together UK’s Key Capabilities To Drive Strengths In Robotics Research and Engineering

 The UK’s ability to develop and exploit the vast potential of Robotics and Autonomous Systems was given a major boost today with the formal launch of The EPSRC UK Robotics and Autonomous Systems Network (UK-RAS Network).

The Network will bring together the UK’s core academic capabilities in robotics innovation under national coordination for the first time and encourage academic and industry collaborations that will accelerate the development and adoption of robotics and autonomous systems.

The Network will be unveiled this evening at the Science Museum in London following a public lecture on Robot Ethics, organised by IET Robotics and Mechatronics Network in association with the Science Museum Lates and supported by the EPSRC UK-RAS Network.

The new network has already received strong support by major industrial partners, the Science Museum and the UK’s major professional engineering bodies including Royal Academy of Engineering, IET, and The Institution of Mechanical Engineers. The Network will expand to include broader stakeholders including key national laboratories in the UK and leading international collaborators in both academia and industry. The global market for service and industrial robots is estimated to reach $59.5 billion by 2020.

Commenting on the launch, the UK government’s Minister of State for Universities and Science, Jo Johnson said: “Robotics and autonomous systems have huge growth potential for the UK as one of our Eight Great Technologies. To get it right we need to draw on the expertise of the UK’s research base and the ambition of industry. By working collaboratively, this network will only help to accelerate growth of a high-tech sector and pave the way for new high-value, skilled jobs – a win, win scenario for the UK.”

The EPSRC UK-RAS Network is funded by The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) – the UK's main agency for funding research in engineering and the physical sciences. The Network’s mission is to provide academic leadership in Robotics and Autonomous Systems, expand collaboration with industry and integrate and coordinate activities at eight EPSRC-funded RAS dedicated facilities and Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) across the UK.

The founding network members are Imperial College London, Bristol Robotics Lab, University of Edinburgh, Heriot-Watt University, University of Leeds, University of Liverpool, Loughborough University, University of Oxford, University of Sheffield, University of Southampton, University College London, and University of Warwick.

Professor Guang-Zhong Yang PhD, FREng, Director and Co-founder of the Hamlyn Centre for Robotic Surgery at Imperial College London and Chair of the UK-RAS Network commented: “Robotics and Autonomous Systems are set to play an increasingly vital role in the growth of the UK economy across all sectors of industry, from transport and healthcare to manufacturing and unmanned systems. This dedicated network provides a focus for the UK’s research and engineering excellence for the first time, ensuring that the UK can maintain its competitive edge in RAS innovation.”

Kedar Pandya, Head of the Engineering Theme for the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, added: “Working with Innovate UK and other research council partners, EPSRC's mission is to support and invest in the world-leading research base that has earned the UK its deserved reputation for research excellence. Robotics and Autonomous Systems are one of the Eight Great Technologies in which the UK is set to be a global leader, and the technology being developed at these EPSRC-funded RAS facilities will deliver a significant impact on the research landscape, and attract the kind of industrial investment that will maximise the UK’s stake in the worldwide robotics market.”

The Network will organise a wide range of activities including network and strategic roadmap events such as the UK Robotics conference, symposia and focused workshops, public engagement and exhibitions. It will also have extensive online engagement activities using social media and web and user forums. The Network aims to strengthen the relationship with industry by supporting interdisciplinary mobility and industrial secondment and developing proof-of-concept (PoC) projects and running design challenges. There is also a strong emphasis on government policy and high-level engagement with international stakeholders.

Tagstr raises further $1m in seed funding to grow social media sharing platform

 App downloads hit 500,000 for network based on shared passions and interests

 Social media platform Tagstr (www.tagstr.co) has raised a further $1m in seed funding, bringing its total funding to $2.6m. 

A social media platform that doesn’t require users to have friends or followers, Tagstr allows people all over the world to share, discover and explore their passions and interests through high quality images, audio and video.  

Users upload their images, video and audio files and assign them hashtags, allowing the community to see all media from particular events and on certain themes in one easily accessible shared experience.

All of the investment to date has come from high net worth individuals and will be used to build partnerships and further develop the platform, which has now received more than 500,000 downloads. There have been more than 20 million uploads to Tagstr since it launched on iOS and on the web in August 2014.

Michael Venn, CEO and founder of Tagstr said: "Tagstr was started to shake up the online sharing landscape. We wanted to provide a social sanctuary for people to share experiences, interests and passions whatever they are into, from graffiti to goalkeeping, cocktails to canal boats. We wanted to offer a platform where people could get the bigger picture."

There have been several updates to the platform in recent months, including the ability to upload multiple files at the same time, full-screen view and swipe through, as well as a new Explore page that lets users view trending hashtags, popular posts and posts near them. Tagstr is also now available on Apple Watch.

"You need to be ‘socially connected’ to build media together everywhere else, but on Tagstr you don’t have to be friends or follow people to see their content. Connections are made based on the topics that interest you allowing you to collaborate with people you have never met. You can discover the world through hashtags in stunning quality as all media is organised and collated in one place capturing the world’s perspective,” Venn continued.

Tagstr is based in Cheltenham, ensuring business-critical fast internet and access to a rich source of design and developer talent from the nearby University of Gloucestershire.