Huler – the worktech company behind a leading employee experience platform (EXP) – has raised a further £1.5m from the MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund, which is managed by Mercia Ventures and part of the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), and Mercia’s EIS funds.

The latest investment will support further development of its HulerHub platform and enable the Stoke-based company to increase revenues and create ten new roles.

HulerHub is a SaaS (software as a service) platform that enables HR teams to simplify employee communications and information access. It acts as a ‘digital window’, bringing together all the different software programs, apps and content that employees need in one place, whilst providing important insights for HR teams to better understand how to connect and engage different teams.

Launched in early 2022, it was quickly adopted by clients including Travelodge, Centrica, EE, Qinetiq, St James’s Place Wealth Management and US-based Dairy Queen, with many of them going on to expand its use within their business. Huler is on course to increase annual recurring revenue by 160% in the current financial year.

Huler was founded by HR and worktech expert Nicky Hoyland, who joined forces with Stoke entrepreneur Gareth Mobley, founder and former CEO of DW3 Products Group. The investment follows an earlier round from Mercia and MEIF in December 2022, bringing the total funding to £3.5m.

As part of the deal, the company has appointed David Kelly as Chief Revenue Officer. David has more than 20 years’ experience in HR tech businesses including at IBM, where he led its talent management solutions business in Europe. 

Huler’s Co-Founder and CEO, Nicky Hoyland, commented:

 “With hybrid and remote working now considered normal, employees are increasingly reliant on technology to stay connected and productive, but the adoption of incohesive, clunky technology is contributing to burnout, and decreased engagement. HulerHub is designed to make work simple again. This investment will help us fuel our revenue growth and further develop the product to bring maximum value to our clients.”

Kiran Mehta, Investment Manager at Mercia Ventures, said: 

“The employee engagement sector remains a huge and fast growing market. Huler’s platform was the most advanced we’d seen at the point of the first investment and the progression since has pushed it even further forward. This investment will help it take advantage of the market opportunities and pursue its aim to become a leader in its field.”

Keira Shepperson, Investment Director, Regional Funding at the British Business Bank, said:

“The MEIF Proof of Concept & Early Stage Fund was introduced to invest into SMEs with innovative ideas, supporting growth and longer term investment into the wider Midlands region. Huler is a perfect example to showcase the MEIF’s ongoing commitment to innovative companies, creating new jobs through the funding. The MEIF encourages similar start-up SMEs to consider the funding options available to support their growth.”

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.

ENDS

About Mercia Ventures
Mercia Ventures is a proactive venture capital investor focused on being the first-choice partner for growth. Mercia Ventures makes equity investments of up to £10million across all sectors, with specialisms in Software, Consumer, Healthcare and Deep Tech. 

Mercia Ventures is part of Mercia Asset Management PLC and sits alongside its wider private equity, debt and proprietary balance sheet capital operations. The Group has 11 offices in the UK and Mercia Ventures’ national footprint and 48 strong investment team draws on their experiences as founders, PhD scientists, software engineers, corporate financiers and management consultants to help our partner companies successfully achieve their ambitions. Mercia Asset Management PLC currently has c.£1.4billion of assets under management and, since its IPO in December 2014, has a portfolio of over 400 start-ups from pre-seed to Series B. Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC”.

The Group raises its own Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Funds and details about open offers can be found through Mercia’s website.

Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic “MERC” and includes the following wholly owned subsidiaries –

• Mercia Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 524856
• Enterprise Ventures Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 183363
• EV Business Loans Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 443560

About the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF)
The Midlands Engine Investment Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, will invest in Debt Finance, Small Business Loans, Proof-of-Concept and Equity Finance funds, ranging from £25,000 to £2m, specifically to help small and medium sized businesses secure the funding they need for growth and development.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is operated by British Business Financial Services Limited, wholly owned by British Business Bank, the UK’s national economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity.

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund is supported by the European Regional Development Fund, the European Investment Bank, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and British Business Finance Limited, a British Business Bank group company.

The MEIF covers the following LEP areas: Black Country, Coventry & Warwickshire, Greater Birmingham & Solihull, Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire, The Marches, and Worcestershire in the West Midlands; and Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham & Nottinghamshire (D2N2) Greater Lincolnshire, Leicester and Leicestershire, and South-East Midlands in the East and South-East Midlands.

The project is receiving up to £78,550,000 of funding from the England European Regional Development Fund as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020. The programme will continue to spend to the end of 2023.

The Department for Levelling Up,  Housing and Communities is the Managing Authority for European Regional Development Fund. Established by the European Union, the European Regional Development Fund helps local areas stimulate their economic development by investing in projects which will support innovation, businesses, create jobs and local community regenerations. For more information visit www.gov.uk/european-growth-funding.

The European Investment Bank is providing £122,500,000 to support the Midlands Engine Investment Fund. This follows backing for the Northern Powerhouse in 2017 and backing for the newly launched North East Fund. For further information visit www.eib.org

The funds in which Midlands Engine Investment Fund invests are open to businesses with material operations in or planning to open material operations in the West Midlands and East & South-East Midlands.

The British Business Bank has published the Business Finance Guide (in partnership with the ICAEW, and a further 21 business and finance organisations). The guide, which impartially sets out the range finance options available to businesses and provides links to support available at a regional level, is available at https://thebusinessfinanceguide.co.uk

About the British Business Bank
The British Business Bank is the UK government’s economic development bank. Established in November 2014, its mission is to make finance markets for smaller businesses work more effectively, enabling those businesses to prosper, grow and build UK economic activity. Its remit is to design, deliver and efficiently manage UK-wide smaller business access to finance programmes for the UK government.

The British Business Bank’s core programmes support nearly £8bn^[1] of finance to almost 94,800 smaller businesses^[2]. Since March 2020, the British Business Bank has also launched four new Coronavirus business loan schemes, delivering almost £73bn of finance to around 1.6m businesses.

As well as increasing both supply and diversity of finance for UK smaller businesses through its programmes, the Bank works to raise awareness of the finance options available to smaller businesses. The British Business Bank Finance Hub provides independent and impartial information to businesses about their finance options, featuring short films, expert guides, checklists and articles from finance providers to help make their application a success.

In light of the coronavirus pandemic and EU Exit, the Finance Hub has expanded and it now targets a wider business audience. It continues to provide information and support for scale-up, high growth and potential high growth businesses, but now provides increased content, information and products for businesses in survival and recovery mindsets. The Finance Hub has been redesigned and repositioned to reflect this, during this period of economic uncertainty.

British Business Bank plc is a public limited company registered in England and Wales, registration number 08616013, registered office at Steel City House, West Street, Sheffield, S1 2GQ. It is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. British Business Bank plc and its subsidiaries are not banking institutions and do not operate as such. They are not authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). A complete legal structure chart for the group can be found at www.british-business-bank.co.uk.

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^[1] Figures as at end of June 2020

^[2] Figures as at 28 January 2021