urfuture, a Manchester-based entry-level hiring startup, has raised £1.7 million in a seed round led by River Capital, with participation from SyndicateRoom’s Access fund, Manchester Angels, Fhunded, Solid Bond, Host Capital, and a number of sector specialist angels. It is building hiring infrastructure to replace CVs and job boards, and the funding will be used to accelerate product development, expand its team, and launch a self-serve product for SME and mid-market customers.
The investment comes as youth employment and economic inactivity move higher up the UK policy agenda, with 957,000 young people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training in October to December 2025, and 45% of job seekers using AI to help write or edit their CVs. urfuture’s platform combines a social-first Gen Z distribution engine with a behavioural science job matching algorithm to help employers identify higher-intent candidates, improve diversity, and reduce hiring bias. It enables employers to connect directly with candidates and manage application volumes more effectively.
Since launching in August, it has reached over 50,000 downloads and generated more than 160 million social views. urfuture has also collected 2.4 million behavioural data points through its matching platform. Employers including West Midlands Police, Tesco, British Airways and Scottish Power Electricity North West are using the platform, with one employer increasing diversity in its applicant pool from 8% to 47%.
The funding will support the launch of a white labelled behavioural profiling and screening infrastructure designed to reduce manual screening time for employers. It will also be used to expand sales, marketing, and engineering teams, alongside the rollout of a self-serve product.
urfuture was founded by Tom Keighley, whose work in the talent space dates back to 2011, alongside Co-Founder and COO Jayel Williams and Co-Founder and CCO Holly Hobbs. It has also supported government-backed campaigns aimed at engaging young people at scale, working alongside senior UK government figures.
The UK is rightly focused on how to get more young people earning or learning, but the infrastructure between education and employment is still broken. CVs don’t work for entry-level talent, job boards don’t reach this generation, and AI has made application volume harder to manage while reducing quality. We’re rebuilding that system from first principles, combining social distribution, behavioural science and AI to create a fairer, more effective way to connect young people to work. Our ambition is to become the front door to employment for the next generation.
We are pleased to announce our investment in urfuture a platform addressing one of the most pressing challenges facing the UK today: supporting young people in making informed career choices. At a time when youth unemployment is rising sharply particularly among 16–21-year-olds the need for accessible, high-quality career guidance has never been greater. This challenge is especially acute for those without strong personal or professional support networks. urfuture is uniquely positioned to bridge this gap, providing a scalable and engaging solution that empowers young people to explore entry-level roles, apprenticeships, and longer-term career pathways.
