Companies struggled to reorient themselves after the pandemic. One thing was certain: the transition to remote work had happened sooner than expected. This meant a major shift in the way businesses hire new talent. The question was: Would managers be able to sift through a lot of CVs in a situation like this? Or would they have to quickly assess their skills and not rely on CVs?One startup decided to capitalize on the situation.TestGorilla, a Dutch HR tech startup, invented a way to hire people using short skills-based tests. This had the additional advantage of eliminating the unconscious bias caused by quick CVs that might have helped a very low-skilled individual get ahead and keeping out less skilled, but more qualified, candidates.The startup claims that their bet paid off, and nine months later, they claim to have gathered over 1,500 corporate clients including Sony, PepsiCo and Bain & Company.TestGorilla raised $10 million in a Seed round of funding. It was led by SaaS-specialist VC Notion Capital, Jeff Weiners Next Play Ventures and Indeed cofounder Paul Forster. Peakon cofounder Phil Chambers and Isaac Oates co-founder of Justworks.TechCrunch has learned that the round was highly contested. The round closed in two weeks after multiple offers were received.TestGorilla was founded by Wouter Durville (a serial entrepreneur) and Otto Verhage (a former Bain & Company partner), and it remotely assesses cognitive skills, soft skills and culture fit. It also tests motivation and language proficiency. It replaces CV screening and helps to eliminate unconscious biases during the hiring process.Wouter Durville (Co-Founder of TestGorilla) told me on a phone call that we are removing bias as hiring is now data-driven. Instead of looking at CVs and looking at big brands or pictures of people, or how connected they are to others, we say, "hey, use these tests to test for different things that will predict job success such as cognitive ability and personality to fit into your culture." You can then sort your data to see the top to bottom candidates and make a decision about who to invite to your recruitment process.Jos White, Notion Capital's General Partner, said that this is a huge deal! This round was extremely competitive and one that nearly every VC wanted. With a platform that is more democratic and more global, they are literally disrupting the hiring process. This platform is a better predictor of job successes. The penknife is all that's needed to win the war for talent. TestGorilla is able to open new talent pools, reduce barriers and help companies and candidates find each other. The round is being led by us, but angel investors are a true group of HRtech professionals. They know that TestGorilla is the future in hiring and can address many of the problems companies face.
