OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE FEB 14, 2020
Rotterdam startup Equalture has secured a €1m investment from 4impact and InnovationQuarter. The investment will enable the company to expand its team and scale up internationally. Equalture provides SaaS recruitment solutions for fast-growing companies. By predicting the success of each applicant, it can objectively determine best-fit candidates for a position and optimise a diverse team composition. Equalture was founded by twin sisters Charlotte and Fleur Melkert.
Better hiring decisions thanks to artificial intelligence
Equalture aims to help build top performing teams by predicting optimal composition and preventing ‘bad hires’. Their recruitment solution ensures an unbiased selection of candidates by using algorithms, gamification and artificial intelligence to predict the success of a candidate in a given position and within a team. In addition to the usual criteria of education, work experience and competencies, cognitive skills are also tested to evaluate personality and cultural fit.
On average, the success rate of the hiring process is around 25%. The remaining 75% of people hired turn out to be a mediocre to poor match within a role or a team. A poor hiring decision can cost a firm 1.3x the annual salary per employee, plus the delays in successfully fulfilling the position.
Promoting diversity through fact-based recruitment
Diverse teams, in terms of skills, backgrounds, personalities, gender and other factors, generate on average 19% more turnover than homogenous teams. As Equalture’s algorithms are unbiased and allow for blind recruitment, subjective characteristics that often unconsciously influence the selection process are eradicated. This objective hiring helps employers achieve diversity in their teams and grow their company.
The self-learning nature of the algorithms used to create the Equalture software solution ensures that the quality of the matching profile constantly improves and results in a more efficient and accurate hiring process. Moreover, the inclusion of gamification in the first step of the application process makes this an innovative recruitment experience for applicants. These neuro-assessment games map a candidate’s skills, intelligence and personality traits. To help predict a good cultural fit, the team which the recruited candidate will join is also tested, mapped and included in the score of the matching profile as are relevant industry benchmarks.
Equalture is the second recruitment sector company that Charlotte and Fleur Melkert have co-founded. The sisters launched Equalture during their studies at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Since successfully optimising its software for upscaling, the company has expanded to five countries and has seen its customer base grow rapidly.
FundRight ambassador His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn van Oranje: “Equalture helps strengthen diversity by eliminating implicit hiring biases in selection algorithms. Techleap.nl congratulates our #FundRight partners InnovationQuarter and 4impact on this investment.”
Charlotte Melkert, CEO of Equalture: “The investment by 4impact and InnovationQuarter will enable us to achieve our international growth targets. We are delighted that both 4impact and InnovationQuarter have placed their confidence in us. Due to the combined experience of these funds, we now have the necessary tools to turn our ambitions into results.”
Ali Najafbagy, 4impact managing partner: “Equalture contributes to three of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals: gender equality, decent work and economic growth and reduced inequalities, which fits perfectly within our tech4good Inclusion investment pillar. 4impact has a unique background in the HR industry and we are incredibly enthusiastic to work with Equalture’s exceptionally ambitious and strong team.”
Liduina Hammer, head of investments at InnovationQuarter: “It’s great to see two young entrepreneurs having such an impact by applying AI to recruitment, enabling their customers to select job candidates without bias. Among other things, this helps promote diversity within the labour market. With this investment, InnovationQuarter is also contributing to the objectives of the FundRight statement signed on 19 May to boost women-led entrepreneurship in the Netherlands.”
About Equalture
Equalture uses predictive hiring software that supports fast-growing companies in building winning teams. It accomplishes this by identifying a team’s needs, determining ideal candidates and predicting the success of each candidate within a role as well as within a team. The software achieves this through the use of neuropsychology and artificial intelligence. Equalture aims to build diverse teams in which the right combination of skills, personalities and backgrounds helps businesses scale faster.
