£200,000 investment for Newcastle recruitment software specialists

Newcastle-based web recruitment software specialist has landed a further £200,000 from Northstar Ventures.

The investment in RecruitmentForce, incorporating £25,000 from private investors, is the third tranche from the Finance for Business North East Accelerator Fund.

Five new jobs have been created as a result of the deal and three roles have yet to be filled.

RecruitmentForce is a Software as a Service (SaaS) product that specialises in cloud and web-based recruitment software for Macs and PCs.

Features include being able to expand the database information into smartphones and mobile devices, linking information to job boards worldwide, and the ability to share a pool of candidates with any number of agencies.

The firm in Europe, Asia, the USA and Australasia and the software is suitable for all sizes of businesses – from start-up recruitment companies to established companies requiring hundreds of licenses.

Eldon Jobe, managing director of RecruitmentForce, said: “Most recruitment companies start with one or two people who have decided to take the plunge with a LinkedIn account and list of contacts and candidates in their little black book.

“Initially most of the information will be in the founder’s head, but as the company expands, they face problems of coordinating staff activities, managing their own internal staff turnover and even theft of the company database by staff who simply export a list of Outlook contacts before clearing their desks.

“Our platforms address all of those issues and aim to make companies more robust and able to tap into larger revenues, as well as enabling the recruiter to seamlessly link their ever expanding database with their social network accounts.”

The investment has also enabled RecruitmentForce to move into bigger premises in the city centre, invest in new technology and faster servers and also it has given the company the ability to substantially increase its marketing budget.

Rebecca Crawford, investment manager at Northstar, said: “We are delighted to have been able to continue our support for this fast growing North East company. In an age where cloud based SaaS products are proving the way forward in lots of industries, we are excited about the potential of these products in the recruitment industry.”

RecruitmentForce has appointed Carl Swansbury, Director of Corporate Finance at Ryecroft Glenton Corporate Finance to assist in the identification and implementation of its future growth and development strategy, whilst also helping the Company create a scalable business model.

Carl added: “Now that this funding round is complete, I look forward to working with Eldon and the rest of board at RecruitmentForce to clearly identify and deliver its future growth and development strategy. The company has real growth potential and I am very much looking forward to advising Eldon on the future development of the business.”

The Accelerator Fund, which is managed by Northstar Ventures, is backed by the European Regional Development Fund and the European Investment Bank.