Levin - Levin’s mission is to be the market leader for connecting talent with the most innovative businesses globally in FinTech (Storm2), HealthTech (Storm3), GreenTech (Storm4), RetailTech (Storm5) and EdTech (Storm6).
Founded in 2019 by ex-Phaidon International MD James Brown, supported with an initial £1m investment from Puffin Point, the business hit its first hurdle within 6 months of trading, the global Coronavirus pandemic. Levin weathered this initial “storm” with growth stalling naturally in March 2020, only for it to reverse and continue growing consecutively month on month since April 2020.
Now employing over 650 employees, reporting $44m NFI in its third full financial year, it is incredible to see the growth this agency has experienced in such a short space of time, this is a 230% CAGR since inception!
First Mover To Scale?
Even in a such a short space of time, Levin’s swift growth and strong financial performance have already drawn the attention of industry and trade organisations. Storm2 was awarded Most Innovative Global FinTech Recruitment Company 2021 at SME News’ Finance Awards and named in Singapore’s 2022 SME 500. Storm3’s CEO was recently nominated for a HIMSS Most Influential Women in Health IT award, whilst Storm4 won Best Renewable Energy Recruitment Company 2021.
Levin’s most recent additions, Storm5 and Storm6, successfully launched in late 2021 and late 2022 respectively despite the complexities of the global pandemic and incoming economic downturn.
By associating these different brands with specialised recruitment verticals, it enables Levin to cross-sell on the candidate database. This ensures there is no shortage of talent and Levin can remain the ‘go to’ for all things Tech recruitment. Each Storm retains that niche sector specialism, working solely with businesses from that market, whilst accessing a larger portion of a highly specialised, technical talent market.
Academy
Levin’s rapid growth is underpinned by an aggressive hiring strategy, and this remains a key performance indicator for Levin’s founders. By the end of year 1, Levin had a headcount of 47. Offering clear channels for progression, Levin’s senior hiring model has centred on internal promotion of talent, with 12 of the original graduates that joined in the first year of business, remaining at Levin operating at director level and above now.
By the end of year 2, staff count jumped up to 270 employees following the launch of a Singapore & Amsterdam office and this rapid hiring brought to fruition the beginning of the global Levin Academy, with responsibility falling on co-founders Jamie Robinson and George Trewhella to deliver the graduate training programme. An astonishing 90% of hires for Levin are Gen Z’s and they all believe in the mission aspect, demonstrating how graduate academy recruits are moulded into the Levin culture, striving for the same objective in disrupting conventional recruitment practise.
On track to accomplish ambitious expansion targets, Levin made headlines in 2021 when onboarding 100 graduates on the same day… twice, and in 2022 they broke their own record by welcoming 280 new starters over two weeks. This year the headcount grew from 270 to 670 (148% growth) following a 575% headcount growth in 2021.
As Levin enters its fourth year in business, they have appointed a new senior leadership team to take the company through its next stage of growth to 1,000 headcount. George Trewhella and Angela Ward step into CEO roles for the USA and EMEA/APAC markets, while James Brown moves away from the operational, day to day role. Jamie Robinson leads business operation functions as COO, and Alex Horner heads up the Commercial function as CCO, with a specific focus on driving recurring revenue streams.
Clare Cooper has been promoted to CEO of Storm3, taking on a global remit following the success of launching Storm3 and growing the UK team. On his promotion, Hamish Wright moves into CFO heading up a growing finance division.
International expansion
With offices in London, Singapore, Amsterdam, Dallas, New York and Hamburg, Levin is well positioned to serve the global tech market, with the company’s international footprint considered a key focus in their success and future growth.
The majority of the Levin’s target market comes from North America – connecting talent at over 1,500 businesses around the world since launch and are about to crack the 500,000 mark of specialist Tech professionals within their network globally.
Future
Given such an impressive growth trajectory, Puffin Point has remained on board and in 2021 confirmed additional investment to provide the business with increased firepower for growth.
Within Levin, founders, leaders, and employees are all driven by being at the forefront of an industry responsible for changing lives – not only imminently but for future generations too. Having achieved more in the first few years than most companies do in a decade, Levin is committed to combining cultural, ethical and professional excellence to stand out from the crowd as the disruptive tech recruitment provider of choice for both clients and candidates.
In the long term there is an ambition to build a 5,000 employee business, to continue adding new storm brands within impact-driven sectors. The group is also seeking to expand its’ global footprint, with the long-term objective to open 12 offices across three continents with Sydney and the West Coast of America considered as the next target market, to facilitate Levin’s ability to service client requirements on a 24-hour basis.
With a new 23,000 square foot London Headquarters secured at 155 Bishopsgate, next year they want to hit 1,000 employees and at the rate Levin are growing I am confident this will happen!
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