Jenson Ventures backs Levlr to help employers unlock the majority of candidates they already attract
Jenson Ventures has announced a new seed investment from its 2025/26 SEIS fund into Levlr, a platform reshaping how employers access and utilise talent in high-volume sectors such as hospitality and retail.
In high-volume hiring, employers typically hire only 2–3% of applicants. The remaining 97–98% are rarely fully seen, engaged, or reused, not because they lack potential, but due to volume, timing, or role-specific fit. Despite significant investment in attraction, most of this talent is lost, and the process starts again.
Levlr is built to change that.
Levlr captures candidates at the point of application and ensures their journey continues, even if they are not selected for a specific role. Through a shared, cross-employer talent community, candidates are matched with other relevant opportunities or supported into development pathways turning previously lost talent into a continuously active and engaged workforce.
By connecting employers through this community, Levlr enables candidates who are not right for one role at one time to be surfaced and matched elsewhere helping organisations hire faster, reduce costs, and improve the candidate experience without increasing application volume.
This model introduces a new approach to recruitment, one that focuses on visibility, utilisation, and collaboration across the sector, rather than repeatedly restarting the hiring process.
This investment reflects Jenson Ventures’ focus on backing founders solving structural challenges in large, complex markets.
Sarah Barber, CEO & Managing Partner at Jenson Ventures, said:
“We’re excited to support Levlr as they tackle a fundamental inefficiency in high-volume hiring. Employers invest heavily in attracting candidates but use only a small proportion of them. Levlr’s approach has the potential to transform how talent is surfaced, shared and utilised across the sector.”
Mike Appleby, Founder of Levlr, added:
“Employers don’t have a talent shortage, they have a visibility and utilisation problem. We’re ensuring that the candidates they already have don’t get lost, but instead continue their journey and receive support into education or employment, whether that’s with them or another employer.”
Levlr is currently onboarding a group of founding employers to help shape the community as it scales across the UK, with early results showing strong engagement from both employers and candidates.
Jenson Ventures will work closely with the Levlr team as they continue to develop the platform and expand its impact across the UK and beyond.