A video game job site is poised to smash its £200,000 crowdfunding target to fuel its international expansion, just days after launching the fundraiser.
Newcastle’s Hitmarker is a jobs platform that specialises in listing jobs for the competitive video game sector known as esports. It is one of the only sites in the world specialising in the sector.
The company turned to crowdfunding platform Crowdcube to grow its business, planning to use the money to roll out localised hiring platforms in countries across Latin America, Europe, and Asia. It aims to launch sites in Brazil, Spain, Japan and China.
The company was originally looking to raise £200,000 in return for 4% equity, which would value the company at £4.8m.
Despite only launching the crowdfunding campaign on Friday, December 4, the company has already raised 99% of its target after raising £199,240 from 285 investors.
Hitmarker will now be overfunding to a maximum of £656,500, meaning that 20% of the company will be owned by its Crowdcube investors.
Following the success of the campaign, the funding round will now close earlier than expected, on Friday December 11 at 11am.
This is the second time Hitmarker has use Crowdcube to grow its business, after it successfully raised £166,050 in 2019. The funding was more than double its minimum target and allowed it to recruit five full-time members of staff.
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Rich Huggan, managing director of Hitmarker, said: “Last November, hundreds of members of the public alongside Hitmarker users and the esports community empowered us to double our staff team and expand our platform’s coverage to the wider video game industry.
“We’ve since grown our revenue quarter-on-quarter and increased the number of jobs available on Hitmarker by more than 1,000%, to over 12,000, making it possible for even more people to work in the industry they love.”
Along with allowing the company to expand into overseas markets, it will also enable the company to hire an additional 10 staff over the next two years. Shares in the company can be bought for as little as £11.
Hitmarker founder Philip Huggan said: “Now, we’re asking our 380 existing investors, one million users, the global esports and video game community, and members of the wider public to empower us to expand our coverage even further.
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“We’re going to create localised platforms for Brazil, Spain, Japan, and China as we begin building the first truly global professional network dedicated to the video game industry.
“This will make it easier than ever for candidates to find jobs and companies to hire great talent.”