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Mexico City, August 16, 2017, – Apli, a talent-as-a-service platform, closed a USD $1.5 million round led by Mexican venture capital fund ALLVP with additional participation from IGNIA, Social Capital and Soldiers Field Angels.
Apli provides an end-to-end recruiting solution driven by machine learning to automatically profile candidates, match workers to opportunities and assign backups to make up for turnover and absenteeism. Vera Makarov, José María Pertusa, Volker Mueller and Yeri Arenas founded the company in August 2016. The service started out in Mexico City and has since grown from a jobs marketplace to a talent-as-a-service platform that provides temporary workers and full-time recruiting to over 400 clients in the hospitality, services, retail and logistics industries. The additional funds from this round will enable Apli to expand to other Latin American cities and to build candidate profiling technology for an increasing number of industries and positions.
“Traditional recruiting is so slow and inefficient that we estimate that one third of global unemployment, equivalent to 70 million people, is caused by friction between job supply and demand,” says cofounder Vera Makarov. With algorithmic matching, Apli fulfills 98% of its client requests and reduces the time to recruit a candidate from 52 days to less than 24 hours. “The key is to provide an end-to-end-solution. As opposed to online jobs sites, which only generate leads, we deliver qualified workers to get the job done on the same day,” notes Vera.
“Conversational interfaces enable us to profile candidates in more depth than with traditional in-person interviews. An average Apli candidate spends 16 minutes answering questions from our chatbot, generating exponentially more data than traditional registration forms,” explains cofounder José María Pertusa.
María Alejandra Venegas, who led the round from ALLVP, adds “artificial intelligence will transform how companies hire and how people manage their careers. We are excited to participate as investors in the technological revolution of the recruiting industry.”
This investment round is unique because it was 100% led by women: Vera Makarov from Apli, María Alejandra Venegas from ALLVP, Christine Kenna from Ignia, Ashley Carroll from Social Capital and Deborah Dana from Soldiers Field Angels. Christine Kenna states, “Apli is proof that there are opportunities to invest in high growth, ambitious tech startups led by women, and Vera is an example for women who aspire to become high-impact entrepreneurs.” Deborah Dana concludes, “In addition to having one of the best founding teams, Apli is solving an important problem for businesses in Mexico. With 1 billion days lost to turnover and absenteeism every year in 2.5 million companies in the services, retail and manufacturing industries, Apli’s market potential is huge.”
PR contact
Diana Pantoja
(+521) 55 6702 1641
About Apli
Apli is Latin America’s first on-demand jobs platform that provides qualified workers in less than 24 hours. Apli was recognized as the best Mexican startup of 2016 by Seedstars, Cinépolis and IBM Smartcamp and was the global winner of Harvard Business School’s 2017 new venture competition. For more information, please visit http://www.apli.jobs/ and Apli’s press room.
About ALLVP
ALLVP – Antoni & Lelo de Larrea Venture Partners – founded by Federico Antoni and Fernando Lelo de Larrea in 2012, is one of the most active Series A fund in the venture capital industry in Latin America. Across two portfolios, the fund has invested in twenty-four companies throughout the region such as Cornershop, the fastest growing on-demand grocery platform in Latin America, weex, the mobile virtual network operator where users create their own micro-plans from a selection of talk/text/data bundles, and Alkanza, a pioneering rob-advisor that uses AI to offer portfolio services to clients of financial institutions in Brazil, Mexico, Colombia and the US. The firm is a member of the Latin-American Venture Capital Association (LAVCA), the Mexican Private Equity Association (AMEXCAP) and Endeavor Investor Network. For more information, please visit http://www.allvp.vc/ and @all_vp.
About IGNIA
IGNIA is a venture capital fund that invests in high growth companies aimed at the emerging middle class in Mexico. Founded in 2007, IGNIA has two funds and USD 200 million in capital raised. IGNIA invests in sectors such as health, fintech, education and basic services. For more information please visit www.ignia.mx and @IGNIA_Fund.
About Social Capital
Social Capital is a venture capital firm founded in 2011 that specializes in technology startups, providing seed funding, venture capital and private equity. Social Capital´s mission is to transform society by using technology to solve the world’s hardest problems. For more information, visit http://www.socialcapital.com/ and @socialcapital.
About Soldiers Field Angels
Soldiers Field Angels is an early-stage Venture Capital firm that supports startups with smart capital from Harvard Business School alumni. Founded in 2013, SFA’s mentor network covers utilities, transportation, healthcare, education, consumer goods, IT and financial services. For more information, visit http://www.soldiersfieldangels.com/
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