The skills-based workforce management platform Spotted Zebra has announced that it has raised $9.3 million (€8.8 million) in its Series A funding round led by the pan–European venture capital firm Nauta Capital with participation from Act VC, as well as existing investors Playfair Capital and Entrepreneur First. With the funds raised, the London-based startup intends to hire more staff, extend its product line, and scale its platform to new industries and markets to meet its 2030 target of connecting 10 million people with opportunities at the world’s leading employers globally.
Spotted Zebra, founded in 2020 by Ian Monk and Nick Shaw, offers the transformative power of the platform by empowering organizations to adopt a skills-based approach and integrate best practices and data-driven decision-making into their core operations. The talent lifecycle is the focus of the platform’s applications. Their applications prioritise skills in hiring, development, and internal mobility, ensuring a comprehensive approach to talent management within organisations.
Speaking about the company, Co-founder & CEO of Spotted Zebra, Ian Monk, said:
Our core belief is that employees are happier and more productive when their unique skills – their superpowers – are aligned with roles that use and develop these talents. Our platform is solving the skills crisis by aligning people with opportunities. We help our clients to find suitable candidates when looking externally quickly and by identifying those individuals most ideal for reskilling or succession when looking internally. And more than that, we’re ensuring that employees go home feeling motivated and energised because their superpowers are being put to good use.
The startup counts several FTSE100 companies amongst its growing list of clients. It has already gained industry recognition, with its hiring solution winning the Gold Award in Candidate Assessment at the In-House Recruitment Awards 2022 for its work with AWE. Spotted Zebra assessments highlight that high performers are twice as likely to be rated as top performers and reach competence 20% faster.
The World Economic Forum has identified the skills crisis as a significant global challenge, ranking it second only to climate change, with an estimated value of $11.5T (or approximately €10.89B). To address this issue, significant companies are shifting to a model that prioritizes skills over specific jobs in workforce management. This is where Spotted Zebra aims to provide an impact. It claims it can close this gap and offer solutions for the skills-based transition.
Conor Mills, Principal at Act VC, stated:
Spotted Zebra allows large organisations to highlight and validate skill sets and proficiency levels of both their workforce and candidate pools in a way not previously possible. This innovation enables executives and HR teams to make critical talent decisions quickly and confidently across various talent-related work streams, delivering exceptional value for their organisations.
In April of this year, Spotted Zebra raised $1.8 million (€1.6 million) in a seed round led by Playfair Capital, with the participation of its existing investor, Entrepreneur First.
