Spotted Zebra, a startup offering employee skills insights to companies, has raised $1.8m (£1.4m) to tackle the ever-present skills gap in the UK.
Spotted Zebra says it has created a tool that gives employers worker data to measure the skills of their teams. The idea is that organisations can identify both gaps in employee skills and unutilised potential.
The company said that its insights inform both internal mobility and the hiring of new staff.
“The magnitude of the skills-gap crisis is astonishing. More than half of companies around the world cannot find the skills they are looking for,” said Ian Monk, CEO of Spotted Zebra.
“Many companies are responding by adopting a new operating model for workforces; one that sees skills as the fundamental building blocks of work.”
The funding round was led by Playfair Capital and featured participation from Entrepreneur First.
“We are excited to partner with a team that is defining a new SkillsTech category within the £30bn HR Tech space; one that puts skills at the heart of all people-decisions,” said Joe Thornton, a partner at Playfair Capital.
Playfair Capital’s contribution came from its pre-seed tech fund that gained a £57m boost last month.