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Image credit: SkillsCV

Rotterdam-based HRtech startup SkillsCV announced that it has raised €2M in a fresh round of funding to promote equal opportunities through skills-based matching. The proceeds from this round will help the company to launch its app, integrate with governments, municipalities, schools and recruiters, and further strengthen its team.

Investors in this round

The round saw participation from Intelligence Group and the founders of Westerduin Temporary Employment Agency. Other investors include businesses in the employment mediation sector, tech entrepreneurs, and 4impact, a tech4good venture capital fund.

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Pauline Wink, partner at 4impact, says, “Investing in equal opportunities and inclusive employment are important investment themes for 4impact. The traditional way of selection based on background, education and experience is very limitative and creates unequal opportunities. SkillsCV is about change. We are very impressed by the experienced and entrepreneurial team, their vision, ambition and approach and look forward to our collaboration.”

“Focusing on the human aspect of the job market”

Founded in 2020 and led by CEO Maarten Westerduin, SkillsCV claims to play a vital role in the transition to a new labour market. The company says, “The labour market of the future is about skills, not diplomas. Developing skills and matching people and jobs based on skills must take centre stage  ̶  there are too many ‘mismatches’ currently.”

SkillsCV offers candidates with skills matching in relation to finding jobs and internships. All vacancies from employers and intermediaries are converted into a set of skills and educational programmes. Candidates’ experiences are also converted into skills to create a personal SkillsCV.

The personal SkillsCVs are then matched with all available vacancies in the Netherlands. Each CV is constructed in the same way, thus eliminating bias. All applications and matches are anonymous by default so that the match proceeds purely skills-based.

The launch!

SkillsCV will have its soft launch in two regions in the Netherlands on April 4, together with 16 (medium) sized employment agencies, which together account for about 1 out of 7 vacancies in the Netherlands. 

After the summer, the national launch will take place, with SkillsCV aiming to reach half a million users within a year. Apart from employment mediators, SkillsCV also focuses on governments, educational institutions (Regional Training Centres and UAS) and municipalities.

By unlocking all jobs, internships, side jobs, and voluntary work in the Netherlands in an unbiased manner, every job/side-job seeker is given an equal starting point on the labour market. Skills are the language used for matching, resulting in the users finding ‘a job that is exactly what they are’.