Willo raises £3M to launch ‘blue tick’ verification for job candidates amid AI hiring surge

Glasgow-based recruitment technology platform Willo has raised £3 million ($4 million) in fresh funding to combat the growing wave of AI-generated job applications, with a first-of-its-kind “blue tick” feature that automatically verifies candidate credentials.

The funding round, led by Peter Bauer, the founder of cybersecurity giant Mimecast, marks the largest in Willo’s history and takes total investment in the fast-scaling platform to £5.9 million ($8 million). Bauer, who took Mimecast from start-up to Nasdaq IPO, has invested £3.7 million ($5 million) into Willo over the past 18 months and will support its strategy for US expansion.

Willo was founded in 2020 by Scottish entrepreneurs Euan Cameron, Andrew Wood, and Hamish Livingston. The company has already achieved 64x revenue growth since launch, with revenues surging a further 70% in 2025. Today, it works with employers including Toyota, Samsung, DPD Group, and the NHS, and operates across 195 countries, processing millions of candidate interviews each year.

Its new Willo Verified Profiles product will provide employers with a trusted layer of verification — confirming applicants’ identity, education, work history, and skills assessments via aggregated third-party data sources. This aims to help hiring teams cut through an avalanche of AI-crafted CVs, which research by Jisc suggests has fuelled application fraud at two-thirds of large UK companies.

Cameron, Willo’s CEO, said: “Employers tell us they are inundated with AI-generated CVs that are hard to verify. That’s making it increasingly difficult for genuine, qualified candidates to stand out.

With Willo Verified Profiles, we’re building a new layer of trust into the hiring process — verifying identity, qualifications, skills, and experience using automation, data, and video interaction. It will be like a ‘blue tick’ for credentials.”

Bauer’s continued backing is seen as a major endorsement of Willo’s vision. Since stepping down as Mimecast CEO in 2024, he has invested in leading-edge tech companies worldwide.

He commented: “Willo is firmly established as one of the most progressive and exciting platforms in recruitment technology. It simplifies hiring for employers, improves access for candidates, and puts trust back into the process.

The team has built a solution that is ready for the challenges of today’s market — and I’m fully behind their vision for the next stage of growth.”

Over 50% of Willo’s revenue already comes from North America, and the new funding will accelerate its growth there. The company is preparing to open a new East Coast headquarters and will expand hiring across both the UK and US to scale its engineering, sales, and support teams.

Cameron added: “There are thousands of businesses Peter Bauer could back, so for him to double down on Willo in 2025 is an incredible endorsement. This is an enormous step forward for our team and our vision for how hiring should work in an AI-enabled world.”

Founded in 2020, Willo is a global candidate screening and interview platform headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland. Its software is used by thousands of organisations worldwide to simplify and secure recruitment. Willo is active in 195 countries and processes millions of interviews each year.

Read more:
Willo raises £3M to launch ‘blue tick’ verification for job candidates amid AI hiring surge