inploi - the talent attraction SaaS - raises Seed round ahead of US expansion

inploi, the talent attraction technology scale-up, has raised a £1.35m round to develop its growth team and accelerate the go-to-market (GTM) strategy for their Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offering ahead of a planned expansion into the US.

inploi was founded in 2016 out of its founders' shared frustration with the sub-par experience of using legacy HR tech to find and apply for job opportunities. Having transitioned from a labour marketplace to a SaaS platform, the company now employs a unique Software with a Service approach to help hirers source and recruit staff while transforming the candidate's experience – making it as intuitive and frictionless as possible.

The company counts a number of high-profile enterprises amongst its customers, including wagamama, Haven, Butlin's, and FTSE-listed Compass Group UK & Ireland. They are recently joined by Hong Kong HQ'd A.S. Watson Group, the world's largest international health & beauty retailer.

Recruitment industry veterans turned angels Chris Nelson and Julia Ross participated in the round, along with Joshua Nott of Schmidt Futures, Ziyaad Aboobaker, a partner at 10x Value Partners, and a number of others.

inploi transitioned from a marketplace into an enterprise SaaS-model coming out of the pandemic, during which it made access to its platform free at a time when front line workers were being recognised as 'essential' to the economy, and harder to find.

Aboobaker stated: "The inploi team exhibited amazing agility in pivoting their model to providing software as a service, and is now partnered with a growing number of major blue-chip brands. inploi's solution is perfectly positioned to address one of the biggest challenges facing companies today - attracting the people they need to operate effectively in an historically tight labour market - bringing the latest technology to an outdated market ripe for innovation. I am excited to have invested again to support them on their scaling journey."

The company – which has been described as building Shopify for hiring – is seeking to become the dominant platform powering the front-end hiring journey.

inploi CEO, Matt de le Hey, said: "We're grateful to new and existing investors who have backed us as we switch gears from finding product-market fit to scaling. Our unique approach of augmenting and modernising existing systems rather than replacing them - in addition to the close relationships we develop with customers as an innovation partner - has yielded extraordinary results, leading to 100% of our customers renewing across multi-year agreements. Over a million candidates have already engaged with our platform this year alone, submitting 500,000 applications to 34,000 jobs, filled more quickly with significantly less client spend."

The company also places emphasis on its ability to cater to neuro-divergent audiences with a wide variety of educational and professional backgrounds and skill sets.

Alex Hanson-Smith, inploi's CTPO and cofounder, said: "by tracking candidate activity from first contact with a brand through to the point of hire we're able to use real performance data - all the way through the talent attraction funnel - to optimise conversion and refine attraction strategies. We're increasingly using AI to empower humans to focus on the human aspects of hiring, with machines handling the rest. We also have a deep commitment to accessibility and fairness: it goes without saying that nobody should be barred from opportunities by recruitment processes that are inaccessible. Working with our partner accessiBe our careers hubs and applicant experiences are completely customisable by those with neurodivergency or different abilities, helping to broaden access to a more diverse pool of applicants."