Lion has increased its shareholding in Australian hospitality recruitment platform Barcats as part of a $1.2 million capital raising.
Founder and CEO Jeffrey Williams told The Australian Financial Review about half of the capital raising will secure the business for the next four years, with Barcats on target to move to profitability in the next 12-to-14 months.
"Then just over half of it really allows us to now accelerate growth, whether it be a straight marketing deal, we'll look at future markets but it really does ensure that we continue to build out our actual platform as well," he said.
"We've got a lot of IT development, we've got a new version launching in the next month. We've got a lot of development going into the system over the next four to six months – this [funding] is real security for the next two years as we cross over into profit as well as the next big jump as a business."
Barcats plans to become the fastest growing hospitality community across Australia and New Zealand, with over 43,000 hospitality professionals and 13,000 venues in its stable.
Since launching in June 2017 the start-up has processed over 137,000 applications for work.
The hospitality recruitment platform launched in Christchurch last week and marked its second birthday last Friday.
Williams said Barcats has revolutionised the way hospitality operators recruit staff.
“Previously recruitment within hospitality was expensive, time consuming and it was hard to find quality candidates. Barcats has been built by the industry, for the industry, combatting these issues and providing a bespoke staffing solution for venues. Barcats is taking advantage of the continual casualization of the workforce and is building a valuable community.” Williams said.
“For this reason, Barcats has been able to build an enviable list of start-up investors, entrepreneurs and corporate heavyweights as backers, recently completing a fully subscribed capital raise reaffirming its $8m valuation that will drive future growth.
“We look forward to growing our market share in the multi-billion dollar recruitment market.”
Lion was the platform’s first investor in the hospitality recruitment platform and has now increased its shareholding on three separate occasions.
Lion’s Finance Director and Barcats board member Rodney O’Connell said the investments made good business sense for Lion.
“At Lion, we aim to put our customers at the heart of everything we do," he explained. "The service Barcats provides is unique and something the market has lacked in the past.
“We are pleased to get behind the platform, and in doing so, help many of our on-premises customers with staffing solutions.”
Entrepreneur Chris Morris, founder of global share registry giant Computershare, is the latest Barcats investor. Morris owns a privately held hotel business, the Colonial Leisure Group which is based in Melbourne. He also has interest in several tech companies.
Barcats currently counts major hospitality groups such as Rockpool Dining Group, Australian Venue Co, Solotel, Red Rock Venues, Emirates Leisure Group, Crinitis, Accor Group, Colonial Leisure Group, and Compass NZ as clients.
Barcats is supported by Lion, Bacardi-Martini, Brown-Forman, Treasury Wine Estates, IKON Services, Stuart Alexander, Club Plus Super and is working with some of the best training colleges in Australia including the Hotel School, Australian Pacific College, NZMA, Aspire2, William Angliss and iTFE.
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