Recruitment & HRInvestment

A HR tech startup is aiming to tackle global discrimination in recruitment after raising £400,000.

Diversely launched its diversity and inclusion platform, which reduces unconscious bias through the use of artificial intelligence, earlier this year.

The London firm has now closed its pre-seed round, welcoming key UK and US investors on board.

Headed up by Helen McGuire (pictured left) and Hayley Bakker (right) – both two-time entrepreneurs with over 25 years’ combined expertise in the field – Diversely helps HR professionals and recruiters to understand, track, measure and improve the diversity of their pipelines, starting at the sourcing stage. 

Diversely’s own research shows that only 5% of companies are currently able to measure their progress.

“We are at an exciting point of international growth with Diversely and it’s an honour to welcome seasoned HR, tech and recruitment professionals as angel investors into our business,” said CEO McGuire. 

“These individuals are committed to positive change in hiring practices, working with us to introduce Diversely to their extensive network and advising us on our business direction.”

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The HR tech solution is already working with names like Robert Walters, Ogilvy, RMI, WeNetwork and Mural across multiple regions and has incorporated in London, Amsterdam, Delaware and Singapore with global growth and remote hiring a key element of their strategy. 

Chief product officer Bakker added: “The product we’ve built is easily accessible and affordable for HR professionals, hiring managers and recruiters, with AI tools and a D&I dashboard that can be subscribed to together or separately. 

“To increase scale and adoption, we are integrating with Applicant Tracking Systems and recruitment platforms like Bullhorn on  a daily basis to better serve our clients.”

Diversely’s latest non-executive director, Pure Search founder Chris Nelson, said: “ I am delighted to be an investor in and adviser to Diversely.

“Equal opportunity, pay and board room representation for women, ethnic minorities and the differently abled is still sadly lagging and at the heart of the change that needs to be made is removing inbuilt bias in the vast majority of hiring processes.

“Diversely is such a simple solution and a total game-changer for the hiring industry.”