Aberdeen start-up secures £150,000 seed funding

An Aberdeen-based start-up has landed £150,000 in seed investment as it looks to scale up its operations.

From left: Udrafter MD and co-founder Daryll Morrow; non-executive director of RA International Alec Carstairs; chairman of Ecosse IP Mike Wilson; and Udrafter director and co-founder Luke Morrow. Picture: Euan Duff

The University Draft (Udrafter), a real-time student work experience app, secured the six-figure funding from Aberdeen Business Angels to expand its service into new regions of Scotland and the rest of the UK.

Developed by brothers Daryll and Luke Morrow, the app aims to address the lack of access to flexible or paid work experience opportunities for young people by giving approved businesses a platform to post one-off jobs or bite-size projects for skilled students to complete within hours.

The seed investment round was led by Mike Wilson, entrepreneur and chairman of Ecosse IP, and Alec Carstairs, former partner at EY.

Udrafter has received support from social enterprise Elevator’s 12-week accelerator programme and also spent two months on a separate scheme with Robert Gordon University to develop its launch strategy.

Managing Director Daryll Morrow said: “In 2018, The Graduate Market reported that more than a third of recruiters from the Top 100 UK graduate employers stated that those who have no previous work experience are unlikely to be successful during the selection process for their graduate programmes.

“Udrafter bridges the transitional skills gap between education and the work place by giving students an opportunity to taste the world of work, before they have even graduated. Businesses benefit by having direct access to student talent without the expense of hiring a full-time employee.

“The investment and expertise we are receiving is game changing for the business, it will allow us to scale our proven concept across Scotland and the UK. ”

Wilson added: “I’m very enthusiastic about the prospects for this business. What is really great is that businesses get to look at the next crop of talent while they perform real jobs and vice versa.”

The start-up said it had also attracted interest from Etiom Events, north-east Scotland’s largest owner operator of public facing events.