London — November 12th, 2015 | FutureRising.com, the online platform that finds, develops and connects the best graduates with the UK’s creative industries looking for new talent can today announce the launch of its crowdfunding campaign. The funding will be used to grow the team and platform capability allowing FutureRising to further build its 50-strong client list which includes BBH, OMD, Quantcast and Cambridge, Oxford, Birmingham and Bournemouth universities.

Disruptive online platform targeting £150k via Seedrs.

“The recruitment industry is antiquated,” says Donald Fogarty, Co-Founder of FutureRising. “Careers advice is outdated, traditional recruitment has lost its way and thousands of graduates are unable to find relevant work despite the opportunities being there.

On the flip side, across the board one of the biggest challenges for the UK’s creative industry is finding talent – particularly at entry level. This challenge gets bigger the smaller the business is. The reality is, 47% of graduates are in non-graduate roles despite these roles existing in SME’s across the UK (Source: ONS).”

The demand for better careers advice and valuable connections is clear. Since launch 18 months ago, 3,500 students, graduates, teachers and professionals have joined the platform along with 50 fee paying members from across industry.

Adam Oldfield, Co-Founder of FutureRising, commented: “We are inviting members of the public and angel investors to invest via the crowdfunding site, Seedrs, in return for equity shares. We’re on track to increase our client list to 400 companies and 100 institutions and placing over 1,500 graduates in their first job by 2019.”

The new round of shareholders will join existing investors Dave Allen and Roger Partington who before establishing brand consultancy BrandPie were CEO of Team Vodafone at WPP and Marketing Director at Nestle respectively.

Dave Buonaguidi, Chief Creative Officer, Crispin Porter & Bogusky: “The passion they have and the passion they imbue – is essential. I don’t think there are enough organisations helping foster talent in this way. The recruitment challenge across the nation’s creative industries is significant and costly and if we are to continue to compete on a global level, this needs to be addressed and quickly.”

Catherine Alexander, Careers Advisor, University of Cambridge commented: “I’ve enjoyed working with FutureRising, I’ve learned a lot in the process and seen the platform develop substantially in the last couple of years. Through FutureRising events our students have been exposed to a range of companies that we could never have hoped to get speakers from. They operate as a true point of connection and are opening doors to a much sought after but historically tough industry to get into.”

You can see the FutureRising pitch and video at Seedrs.com/FutureRising.

About Futurerising

FutureRising.com is a careers service for students, a connection to industry for educational institutions and a source of talent for companies. FutureRising’s platform has over 3,500 users, they have signed up 50 paying clients and have hosted over 50 events across the UK.

FutureRising was founded four years ago by Adam Oldfield and Donald Fogarty, formerly Mobext (Havas), Internet Advertising Bureau and BrandPie.

FutureRising’s long term vision is to be the world’s biggest careers network helping people of all ages build successful careers.

Donald Fogarty Adam Oldfield
Co-Founder Co-Founder
+44 (0)7748 505681 +44 (0)7791 2356388
Donald@FutureRising.com
Adam@FutureRising.com

Supporting media:

Warning on lack of careers advice (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk

Universities must produce graduates who are ready for any workplace (Guardian)
www.theguardian.com

Employers struggling to find ‘work ready’ graduates (The Times)
www.thetimes.co.uk

Parents careers advice out of date (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk

Universities fees linked to careers advice (BBC)
www.bbc.co.uk

Universities desperate for people who can boost the employability of their students (Guardian)
www.theguardian.com

Creative solutions to the talent shortage in advertising and media (Campaign)
www.campaignlive.co.uk

The future of ad industry needs you (The Drum)
www.thedrum.com

• Careers network for the creative, digital and technology industries.
• FutureRising solving UK’s problems with student careers advice and graduate employability.
• Helping SME’s compete for new talent and disrupting the recruitment market.
• 35 of the UK’s leading creative businesses as clients and 18 universities.
• Students, professionals, investors invited to invest any amount (£10 to £50,000) for equity.