Creative industries network The Dots has raised a £1.5m investment round backed by BBH’s Sir John Hegarty.
The round was joined by London’s Hambro Perks, the UK-wide Angel Academe, which is a female-led investment syndicate that puts cash behind ventures with at least one female founder, and New York’s Coral Reef.
Hegarty has now been appointed chairman of The Dots’ board.
The Dots says that although the creative industries are a huge boost to the UK economy, there’s also a skills shortage, so it is “on a mission to generate one million commercial opportunities for creative professionals by 2018”.
Users can profile themselves, search for jobs, look for courses and more, all with a user interface that makes LinkedIn look like… LinkedIn.
“Creativity is fundamental to building competitive advantage in the new knowledge economy – it is what fuels our economy,” said The Dots CEO and founder, and Londoner, Pip Jamieson.
“Until The Dots, there was no single platform that harnessed the creative talent of top professionals across a myriad of creative industries. I guess that’s why we’ve grown so rapidly – creative professionals have finally found an effective way to promote themselves, network, collaborate and connect with opportunities; generating value for all concerned.”
The money will be used the grow the platform across the UK and the firm is looking at international expansion.
Sarah Turner, founder of Angel Academe, added: “Pip is an accomplished serial entrepreneur and really impressed us with her ambition and, crucially, with what she’s already achieved in a very short period of time.
“We’re very excited about the potential for The Dots to disrupt professional networking and recruitment in the creative industries – a large, but globally fragmented industry.”