Curated Intel from the Talent Tech Industry
September 27-October 2, 2021:
• Oyster brings Series B total to $75+M and launches program for nonprofits;
• AI-based interviewing platform Clovers raises $15M in seed funding;
• Diversity Tech start-up Diversely raises US$550k to tackle global discrimination in hiring;
• A New UN Report argues that AI risks to privacy demand urgent action; and
• ICYMI: The weirdest new tech at CES 2021.
PLUS
• The TAtech Talent Technology Buyer’s Guide is a one-of-a-kind resource for recruiters. The only database available to talent acquisition teams that features solution providers with both state-of-the-art products and business practices they can count on.
Oyster(R) Announces Funding From PayPal Ventures & HR Tech Investments as It Launches Discounts Program for Mission-Driven Companies
Oyster(R), the company that makes hiring talented people around the world compliant, human, and delightful, has today announced investments from PayPal Ventures and HR Tech Investments, an affiliate of Indeed. It has also launched 'Oyster for Impact' — a program designed to help mission-driven companies build thriving distributed teams and have a positive impact on the world. 'Oyster for Impact,' which is open to certified nonprofits and benefit corporations across the globe, offers members a discount on Oyster's distributed HR tools, free enrollment in the company's educational program Oyster Academy, and unique opportunities to showcase their work at Oyster's annual conference. The investments are an extension of Oyster's recent Series B round, bringing total funding raised to date to over $75 million.
Clovers Raises $15 Million to Revolutionize Interviewing for the Modern Workforce
Clovers (www.clovers.ai), a human resources technology firm leveraging conversational intelligence to improve interviewing and hiring practices, today announced it has raised $15 million in seed funding. The round was led by Greycroft and Alpha Edison with participation from Crosslink Capital, Acadian Ventures, Fika Ventures and Act One Ventures. Clovers, through its flagship product, will use conversational intelligence to revolutionize interviewing for the modern world, making interviews more effective and more inclusive for organizations and candidates alike. Clovers will offer unbiased, real-time questions for interviewers during the interview, post-interview candidate insights, and postmortem interviewer coaching. Clovers will connect to existing workflows and easily integrate with an organization's applicant tracking system, calendars and current video conferencing platforms such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Webex.
Diversely Raises US$550k in Pre-Seed Investment
Diversity Tech start-up Diversely raises US$550k to tackle global discrimination in hiring. The female-founded platform eyes UK and US expansion with new hires to support fast growth. With a 107% increase in D&I leadership roles within businesses since last year and a huge spike in D&I roles globally*, there has never been a greater need for impactful, accessible approaches to help teams achieve their diversity goals and strategies. With this shift in mind, HR Tech solution Diversely launched its D&I platform earlier this year and has now closed its Pre-Seed round at US$550k, welcoming key UK and US investors on board. Headed up by Helen McGuire and Hayley Bakker – both two-time entrepreneurs with over 25 years’ combined expertise in the field – Diversely answers the clarion call of HR professionals and recruiters in dire need of effective, scalable tools to understand, track, measure and improve the diversity of their pipelines starting at the sourcing stage.
A New UN Report argues that AI risks to privacy demand urgent action
The United Nations’ (UN) head of human rights has called for all member states to put a moratorium on the sale and use of artificial intelligence systems. UN high commissioner for human rights Michelle Bachelet acknowledged that AI can be a “force for good” but that it could also have “negative, even catastrophic, effects” if the risks It poses are not addressed. Bachelet’s comments come alongside a new report from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The report analyses how AI affects people’s rights to privacy, health, education, freedom of movement, amongst other things. “Artificial intelligence now reaches into almost every corner of our physical and mental lives and even emotional states. AI systems are used to determine who gets public services, decide who has a chance to be recruited for a job, and of course they affect what information people see and can share online,” Bachelet said. The report looks at how States and businesses alike have often rushed to incorporate AI applications, failing to carry out due diligence. There have already been numerous cases of people being treated unjustly because of AI, such as being denied social security benefits because of faulty AI tools or arrested because of flawed facial recognition.
ICYMI: The Weirdest New Tech at CES 2021
CES delivers some real winners each year, but it also has a rich history as a breeding ground for weird technologies. In years past, the show has yielded peculiarities such as cell phone radiation-blocking underwear, a waistline-monitoring smart belt, and a vending machine for fresh loaves of bread. It's hard to forget Charmin's 2020 RollBot, a robot that can bring you a spare roll of toilet paper when you run out (strangely foreshadowing the great TP shortage that came just months later). Despite being all-digital this year due to the coronavirus, CES 2021 offered no shortage of oddities. On the list of strange new innovations is a poop-analyzing toilet that offers dietary advice, smart perfume you can customize from an app, and a headless robotic pet meant to soothe your angst. And it only gets weirder from there.
A Talent Technology Buyer’s Guide Recruiters Can Count On
There are a bazillion talent technology companies out there, offering all kinds of recruiting products. How do recruiters know which are credible and worth your consideration? They turn to the TAtech Talent Technology Buyer’s Guide. This database only lists organizations that have great talent technology AND ascribe to the TAtech Code of Ethics. That makes it a unique resource that recruiters can count on to feature solution providers with BOTH state-of-the-art talent acquisition products and the highest standard of business practices!