UK hiring accelerator, Playter Pay, has released new research showing a surge in investment for jobs creation.

Having analysed over 12600 fundraises in the last 24 months, and comparing the figures of July 2020 – July 2021 with the same period 2019-20, Playter Pay revealed that the UK had experienced a 50% increase in investment gained in 12 months – an upsurge of £7.1billion. Taking total business fundraising to £21.0b in the last 12 months, from £13.9b and the average fundraise from £2.19m to £3.56m. Perhaps most surprising of all in a time of pandemic is that across sectors and geographical regions, much of this investment has been used for hiring purposes.

Across the board, the number of companies planning to use investment funding for hiring purposes increased by 24% in the last year and totalled some £1.68bn of investment, 8% of total funds raised.  Some regions demonstrated significantly higher figures of investment for jobs creation. In the West Midlands, for example, investment raised for hiring increased by 100%, in the South East 83%. In London, investment for job creation grew by 29%.

Companies raising capital for investment had an average turnover of £22.2m and an average of 27 employees.

And it’s a trend that has been noted in a wide range of sectors, companies classified as technology are up from 60.8% to 69%, somewhat surprisingly, retail businesses raising funds to hire comprise 10% in the last 12 months compared to 8% in the previous year and Leisure and Entertainment up to 7.4% from 5.6%. Industrials have seen a fall from 26.9% down to 21% of companies raising money to hire.

Of those companies raising money in the last 12 months with the intention of jobs creation, 35.5% were seed stage, 48% venture, 10.5% growth and 6% established.

Jamie Beaumont, founder and CEO of Playter Pay, comments: ‘Covid-19 has had a massive impact on UK employment. As of May 2021, 4.8% of the population were unemployed. And the business community has responded to this by seeking investment to fund jobs creation. And it’s vitally important that they receive the support that they need at this time. Not just seed funding, which always has a market, but for growth, venture, and established organisations.

‘Without a flexible funding infrastructure, pandemic recovery could easily be hampered. Businesses need new talent to not just scale and diversify, but to re-establish following the disruptions of the last 18 months. Investors have real power to make a difference to the UK’s economic recovery and the health of the UK business ecosystem as we continue towards a post-Covid environment.’