Clu, a British skills-based inclusive recruitment platform, has announced an investment round of $1.5 million (£1.2 million). The backers were not disclosed.
Co-founded by technology entrepreneurs Joseph Williams and Cayelan Mendoza in 2022, Clu aims to support candidates not catered for by other hiring technology platforms. The startup uses proprietary algorithms to build skills matrixes from job descriptions, allowing it to match jobs with candidates with those skills. The platform removes long-standing barriers to the job market for so many people while improving candidate experience and retention and saving time and cost for employers. It has unified innovative methodologies across recruitment, behavioural psychology, inclusive design and AI to help employers and job seekers discover, engage and thrive together more successfully.
According to the company, it has streamlined the process of attracting qualified candidates to improve the hiring experience and reduce the time it takes to hire. Clu claims its average application-to-interview conversion rate is 60%, compared to the industry standard of 5-8%.
Clu is designed to be inclusive and accessible, focusing on upskilling and providing hiring teams and job seekers with confidence in reaching their goals. The firm has over 50 job centres in London and Essex using its platform. It plans to expand in Northwest England and is expected to launch across Europe in 2025; it also targets the government sector. Its advisers include technology industry leaders Maggie Lower, NED of Grindr; Kia Christian, VP of people ops at Google; and Lalitha Stables, SVP of public sector sales for EMEA at Salesforce.
In February, Clu appointed Emily Foges as its new chair. Part of her remit was to prepare the company for its first major investment round.
