TalentMapper – a London-based company whose platform helps identify and develop the skills within an organisation – has raised £2m from Mercia Ventures and Haatch.
Despite being launched just 18 months ago, TalentMapper has already attracted major clients including Dunelm, Danone and Mountain Warehouse and achieved annual recurring revenue of over £700,000. The funding will enable the company to enhance the platform, expand its team and continue its rapid growth.
TalentMapper is designed for businesses with over 250 employees. It gives HR teams a clear view of the capabilities and potential of the workforce, reducing the cost of recruitment and training, and helping to ensure equal access to career opportunities.
For employees, it acts as a ‘satnav’ for career development, guiding them through each stage and linking them to learning management systems to help them achieve their full potential.
The company claims that businesses using the platform have shown a two-fold improvement in gender diversity in new appointments and a four-fold improvement in ethnic diversity.
TalentMapper was founded by Martin Mason – a HR professional who had held senior roles at The Body Shop, Wolseley and Halfords – and borne out of his frustration at trying to manage and upskill a global workforce using spreadsheets. He joined forces with Carl Tucker, who has a background in software design and development and is the current CTO, to develop the platform. TalentMapper incorporates AI and machine learning and has been trained on 675 million career histories to date.
Martin Mason, founder and CEO, said: “We wanted to make it easier for companies to manage global talent and ensure they have the right people in the right place at the right time. By putting the emphasis on skills, TalentMapper also helps ensure employees are promoted for their capabilities. I have seen so many talented people overlooked for promotion because they weren’t a replica of their boss.
“The funding will enable us to build our team to cope with growing demand, add new features to enhance the platform and scale for growth by targeting other sectors including financial and professional services.”
Stephen Windsor, Investment Director with Mercia Ventures, said: “The need to optimise the skills of the workforce has never been more important. Employee turnover has risen sharply since the pandemic and companies are having to try harder to retain staff. At the same time they are trying to accommodate a new, and more digitally savvy, generation into the workplace while also planning to reskill their workforce to meet the changes that AI will bring.
“TalentMapper is a forerunner in the emerging field of SkillTech which aims to address these challenges. It has achieved remarkable growth in a short space of time which demonstrates the demand within the market and the value it provides to employers. We are pleased to help Martin and Carl as they scale the business and roll it out to a wider audience.”
Harry Pearson of Browne Jacobson provided legal advice to Mercia Ventures.