Orka Technology Group, a Manchester-based hiring platform formerly known as Broadstone, has appointed administrators after struggling to turn their fortunes around. The platform had raised £30m+ in investments, with its Orka Works product in particular contributing to its 150% year-on-year revenue growth. However, as the economy slowed in the face of COVID-19, Orka failed to gain sufficient traction from large customers and partners. The administration is anticipated to save some of the company’s 24 employee positions. Praetura Ventures invested £3m to Orka in Series A funding in 2022, and the company had been operating in the ABC Building on Manchester’s Quay Street.
Orka’s co-founder and CEO, Tom Pickersgill, will suffer particular pain during the administration. After he identified the inadequacy of the traditional recruitment agency model, he launched Broadstone in 2016- before rebranding as Orka- to apply tech solutions to improve staffing and recruitment. Orka’s products included a flexible payment option allowing workers to access 50% of their earned wages.
When the economy slowed, Orka, like many other tech firms, found it much harder to raise new funds. Mark Robertson, the company’s head of operations, posted on LinkedIn that he had been made redundant just three weeks after having a baby- indicating the difficulties faced by Orka in earlier stages of its operations.
Attention must be drawn to the fact that at the height of its success, Orka was providing its solutions to over 60,000 individuals in the UK and working with over half of the UK’s largest thirty security companies. Investors in Orka included Sonovate and the British Business Bank Future Fund, in addition to Adecco’s previous UK CEO Peter Searle.
Orka Technology Group, a Manchester-based hiring platform formerly known as Broadstone, has appointed administrators after struggling to turn their fortunes around. The platform had raised £30m+ in investments, with its Orka Works product in particular contributing to its 150% year-on-year revenue growth. However, as the economy slowed in the face of COVID-19, Orka failed to gain sufficient traction from large customers and partners. The administration is anticipated to save some of the company’s 24 employee positions. Praetura Ventures invested £3m to Orka in Series A funding in 2022, and the company had been operating in the ABC Building on Manchester’s Quay Street.
Orka’s co-founder and CEO, Tom Pickersgill, will suffer particular pain during the administration. After he identified the inadequacy of the traditional recruitment agency model, he launched Broadstone in 2016- before rebranding as Orka- to apply tech solutions to improve staffing and recruitment. Orka’s products included a flexible payment option allowing workers to access 50% of their earned wages.
When the economy slowed, Orka, like many other tech firms, found it much harder to raise new funds. Mark Robertson, the company’s head of operations, posted on LinkedIn that he had been made redundant just three weeks after having a baby- indicating the difficulties faced by Orka in earlier stages of its operations.
Attention must be drawn to the fact that at the height of its success, Orka was providing its solutions to over 60,000 individuals in the UK and working with over half of the UK’s largest thirty security companies. Investors in Orka included Sonovate and the British Business Bank Future Fund, in addition to Adecco’s previous UK CEO Peter Searle.