Created out of Co-Founder Michael Heverin’s own experiences with the supply teacher environment, Liverpool-based startup, SupplyWell developed a platform that helps supply talent find the best-paying teaching jobs.
Over the years, they’ve developed the platform to improve the experience for the teachers and the schools. Thanks to a real-time, intelligent matching algorithm, they’re able to help schools find their perfect supply match. The platform guarantees a fair wage for the teacher while allowing them to take control of their workload and their wellbeing. Plus, the app helps schools reduce staff absence, improve their retention and save on recruitment fees.
The rise of SupplyWell
The business was founded by Michael Heverin, Raina Heverin and Dan Price in 2017, and went into operation in 2019. From the very beginning of its growth, SupplyWell has been involved with Tech Climbers. In its first year of operation, the company entered our inaugural Tech Climbers list for 2019 and was recognised as an up-and-coming business to keep tabs on in our ’Ones to Watch’ list. Since then, we’ve been honoured to follow the growth of the team and platform through their re-entries, which has found them on our ‘Main’ Tech Climbers list in 2021 and 2023!
Striving to become a leader in EdTech, SupplyWell got stuck into other local support and recognition programmes. In 2021, they were named one of the 10 most exciting early-stage technology companies in the UK by Tech Nation. Following this, the founding team secured a £350,000 equity injection from MSIF’s Merseyside Loan and Equity Fund as part of a round worth up to £500,000.
The hustle didn’t stop there, as the team participated in Gather’s £3.5M programme, which included six months of bespoke consultancy support, online programmes and one-to-one guidance with Growth Consultants.
But where is the business as we head into 2024? We sat down with Michael Heverin to talk about their recent growth, their plans for the future and how their involvement with Tech Climbers has supported their journey.
Q. Looking back at your first Tech Climbers entry in 2019, how would you describe your growth journey to now?
There’s so much to unpack from where we were in December 2019 to where we are now. At the time we were a team of three (myself, Raina and Dan) and the business was starting to rocket. We were doing some really positive things, however, the three of us were working at pace, trying to keep up with the increasing demand, and we didn’t have time to step back and realise that we didn’t have the correct processes and structures in place to scale the business sustainably. There’s been an incredible amount that we’ve learned since that point.
Covid-19 unfortunately hit in early 2020, which presented us with several issues that we needed to address. However, it did give us a chance to pause and put the correct structures in place. From that point, we made sure to get our house in order and went through a process of putting real rigour behind what we were doing. This reflection allowed us to go out and raise initial investment from River Capital (known as MSIF at the time), who were incredibly supportive and followed up with further investment later down the line. We also took some initial angel investment from DCW.
This takes us to the present day, where we’re in 70 schools, and we’ve just closed our most recent funding round of £900K as a team of 22.
Q. You’ve been on both our OTW and Main lists, what are the benefits of re-entering Tech Climbers?
I came into business from being a geography teacher and assistant head teacher. Throughout my career, I always valued the power of connection, relationships and surrounding yourself with like-minded people to gather as much information as you can. So, when I went from having a relatively good profile in my field to doing something so far removed from my typical day-to-day, it was really important to me to become part of this ecosystem that was kicking off at the time, so I could profile the business, make connections and support other early-stage startups.So, entering into things like Tech Climbers, not only did it give us some validation and recognition that let us know that we were doing something that had potential, but it was also great from a brand and network perspective.
I believe people will always try to help others when they can see they’re trying to achieve good things and do the right thing.
Q. What’s next for SupplyWell? What is the next goal you’re looking to achieve?
We've had some great success in the Liverpool City Region, and now we're taking SupplyWell nationwide. Our goal is to shake up how schools and teachers approach recruiting, keeping, and rewarding both permanent and temporary staff. We're excited to have just rolled out a fresh look for our website and we're about to launch a much-improved sign-up experience for our educators, leveraging the best in tech and AI to make the process smoother than ever. We're all in on providing the best for our teachers and schools across the country.
Q. How has Tech Climbers supported your growth?
Tech Climbers is a good way to promote your brand within the Liverpool City Region. We’ve been able to meet like-minded people, as well as individuals who have challenged us or presented us with opportunities that we wouldn’t have had access to. It’s allowed us to develop key contacts, share our network with others and find out about other business development programmes out there.
Q. What would you say to anyone currently starting up a tech business in the Liverpool City Region?
Something that John Michin said to me once was ‘Be brief, be bright, be gone’ which basically translates to be brief with your elevator pitch, be bright and enthusiastic about your business and finally, leave them wanting more.
There are lots of people in the city region who are willing to help you. It’s important to get out there and never say no to a meeting. Thinking back to the early days of SupplyWell, Dr Dave Tully overheard us talking and told us about Jonny Clark, his LCR Activate programme and how they offered match funding. So, we went and met Jonny and that completely changed the fortunes of Supply Well. He’s really well-networked and supported us through our early-stage growth.
Join us at LCR's 2024 List Reveal Event
See if SupplyWell has made our 2024 Tech Climbers list by joining us to celebrate the tech community at our reveal event on February 20th!
