London, 31 January 2018 — Hubbado (www.hubbado.com), an online marketplace that connects clients with consultants, has launched its crowdfunding campaign to help achieve its projected gross revenues of £36.1 million by 2022.
The crowdfunding campaign, which went live on the CrowdCube platform (www.crowdcube.com/hubbado) this week, comes with EIS advance assurance and seeks to raise a minimum investment of £500,000 for 10% of the total equity in the business, and a maximum of £1,000,000 for 20% equity of the business.
Since its launch, hubbado has demonstrated enormous potential for its offering and is today valued at £5m. With initial founder investment and SEIS-approved funding of £150,000, it finished its second year of trading with revenues of £3.5 million and gross profits of £338,467. Its third year is expected to close with revenues of £4 million and gross profits of £400,000.
This second investment will enable hubbado to further develop its software platform, accelerate its geographic expansion plans throughout Europe, Asia and the United States, and allow for strategic hires to support its aggressive development programme.
Hubbado has recently created two complementary propositions; first, its Resourcing Platform, where clients can manage resources through the automation of on-boarding, contractual and payment functions; and second, its Networking Platform, where like-minded consultants can share information, knowledge and collaborate to win larger or more complex projects requiring different skill-sets. Both propositions will be instrumental in helping hubbado realise its growth targets.
The opportunity for hubbado is immense. The market is ripe, growing and in need of a solution like that offered by hubbado. States Jay Dalu-Chandu, hubbado’s CVO:
“Across Europe, the USA and the Asia-Pacific region, there are over 100 million consultants and professional freelancers. In the UK alone, the freelance contribution to the UK economy was £119 billion in 2016.
“It is our aim to be the platform that serves the best of these freelancers and their clients.”
Hubbado’s success to date, and its potential, is attributed not least to its intelligent AI-based technology that profiles and matches relevant consultants to a role or project. In addition, hubbado’s ‘Platform as a Service’ (PAAS) enables clients to manage associates efficiently and effectively, scheduling assignments, managing timesheet management, invoicing and payments.
Hubbado’s potential is also born out of the frustrations both clients and consultants face with alternative resourcing solutions, such as recruitment agencies, job boards, LinkedIn and other marketplaces.
Duncan Stuart, Hubbado’s CEO, comments: “The idea for hubbado actually came from our own frustrations when we were working as consultants. When looking for work, we were stifled by not having direct access to hiring managers.
“Traditional resourcing methods can be notoriously slow, inaccurate and expensive, whilst job boards and other marketplaces lack highly relevant matching services and added value. At hubbado, we truly believe in the ‘power of community’, where skilled consultants can connect, unite and learn – and where projects are perfectly matched. It is our mission to make the world of consultant-working better for all parties through tools and services that are more relevant and effective than that the status quo has to offer.”
Sam Stickland, hubbado’s CTO, concludes: “Hubbado’s scalable software platform, which can be used in any market and within any sector, will make our vision a reality. We are projecting from FY2019 top line revenue growth of 39%, 165%, 67% and 51% respectively, to reach our goal of £36.1 million revenues by 2022. It is our aim to exit either through sale or by merging with a larger organisation in the next three to five years.”
Notes to editors:
For further information, including interviews with the hubbado founders or from clients and/or consultants who use the Hubbado platform, please contact:
Jay Dalu-Chandu, Co-founder, Hubbado
jdc@hubbado.com / +44 (0)780 3231944
Founder biographies:
Duncan Stuart – CEO
Duncan’s drive and energy was one of the main catalysts from which hubbado was born. He began his career as a network consultant in a start-up company. He subsequently moved into business development as part of the management team and successfully helped to grow client sales to a level that allowed the company to execute its exit plan and sell.
Jay Dalu-Chandu – CVO
Jay has been part of the hubbado story since its inception, providing the vision and the clarity for the business. Early in his career Jay very quickly became an expert in networking and held technical authority roles in a number of companies, reaching the highest levels of strategic planning in corporate environments. He understands what it takes to be a great consultant and is passionate about growing and developing the hubbado community and allowing them to showcase their skills in the best possible way.
Shoaib Qureshi – COO
Shoaib began his career at a technology start-up and quickly established himself as pivotal member of the business. He was seconded to various location across Europe, including Paris, Amsterdam and Dublin, gaining extensive experience in creating and running business operations and service teams. As well as running the operations in hubbado he brings experience in client management, project management and service delivery.
Sam Stickland – CTO
Sam is a technical guru. Throughout his life he has absorbed a wealth of information and it is his technical ability that has spearheaded his career to date. Self-taught and self-driven, he manages to climb to the top of every technical sector he puts his hand to and has been on advisory panels for Cisco, RBS and Barclays. His logical and analytical approach, combined with his strategic forward thinking, ensures that the Hubbado platform is being built to the best possible specification.
