Syft investment closes at £6.1m
Syft – the disruptive marketplace staffing app which cuts out the need for traditional agencies – has received investment amounting to £6.1m.
The funding round, led by Spotify’s first investors Creandum, also includes backing from PROfounders Capital and Colle Capital, alongside existing angel investors such as former world champion boxer David Haye and Lord Young, taking Syft to an overall £8.7m total funding in 20 months.
Launched in November 2015, Syft offers a revolutionary online staffing platform for the hospitality and events sector in London, Manchester and Leeds.
Syft claims to be cost and time efficient for employers – giving them direct access to high quality, fully trained staff via the app. This allows employers to view a range of job seekers with varying experience at an average cost of 55% less than a traditional temp agency. Benefits like these have drawn clients such as Compass Group and Lord’s Cricket Ground to Syft.
In less than years, Syft has drawn more than 4,000 job seekers to the app who benefit from the start-up’s flexibility and transparency.
The job seeker is able to be their own boss by seeing exactly who they are working for, and what the role involves prior to the shift, without the need to go through a middle-man.
After a few swipes on the app, job seekers can be added to the rota for shift that pays on average £9.37 an hour, considerably higher than the average London hospitality wage. Other positions available on the app include bar staff, waiting staff, baristas, chef roles, team leaders, and receptionists, that can pay up to £30 an hour.
Syft says it offers the highest quality flexible workers on the market. In order to offer this, and differentiating Syft apart from other recruitment apps, is their unique vetting system.
All job seekers are fully vetted in person, to make sure they have the right skill sets and experiences so they will only be offered jobs appropriately aligned to their skill set.
After being approved, job seekers are offered work via a push notification on their smartphone, as and when the work is posted. Work is offered both in advance and last minute – Syft is a convenient and functional way of gaining extra work within cities.
The platform allows direct access between employers and staff, and handles all payroll and tax obligations, with the employer paying staff wages and any National Insurance contributions via the app.
Syft’s recent raise places them as the UK market leader, in the world’s most attractive temporary staffing market. The London-born start-up plans to utilise the recent raise to catapult expansions into the warehousing and industrial sectors, as well as drive further expansions into Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham.
Johan Brenner, general partner at Creandum and one of Europe’s most experienced investors and entrepreneurs, has also been appointed onto Syft’s board of directors.
He said: “Syft has become the best marketplace for temp workers thanks to a beautiful product that fits companies of all sizes and workers with varying skill sets. What sets Syft apart is a winning combination of a top-notch team, excellent product, and a model that addresses all the shortcomings of traditional temp agencies.”
Co-founder Jack Beaman said: “Attracting a fund of the standard and reputation of Creandum is not only very exciting for us, but also for the UK startup scene. It’s exciting that we continue to see large funding rounds coming into the UK after the Brexit vote. This round will help us consolidate our position in the UK, expanding nationwide and launching new sectors.”
