Arctic Shores, which helps organisations with their recruitment through game technology and behavioural science, has raised 拢5.75m in Series B investment.
Founded in 2014 by Robert Newry聽and Safe Hammad the Manchester-based psychometric assessment provider has become a market leader in hiring for potential and soft skills and existing customers include Vitality, PwC and Siemens.
Praetura Ventures, a Manchester-based venture capital firm, along with London-based private equity firm Calculus Capital led the investment with participation from existing shareholder Beringea.
The money will be used to accelerate the development of its soft-skills assessment and international expansion, specifically in Europe.
Robert Newry, co-founder and CEO of Arctic Shores, said: 鈥淭his next phase of investment will help Arctic Shores to realise its mission to help companies see more in people and transform recruitment so that potential will count as much as hard skills or experience.
鈥淐ompanies are being squeezed by a lack of specific skills which is driving up salaries and recruitment costs. On top of that, there is a cohort of experienced workers soon to retire, and an increasingly digitised economy creating many new roles for which no prior experience exists.
鈥淚f companies recruit in the same way they have always done, then they will fail. Arctic Shores gives businesses a unique and proven way to escape this experience trap by assessing for potential so that companies can train up the skills.
鈥淐ompanies like PwC, Siemens and Airbus are leading the way into the future by recognising that the CV is no longer fit for purpose and adopting a soft skills centric hiring approach.”
Arctic Shores鈥� behavioural tasks help businesses identify candidates鈥� characteristics, and to gauge how well these suit what鈥檚 essential for success in a role. Such characteristics include concentration, appetite for risk and innovation potential.
Helen Verwoert (pictured), operational partner at Praetura Ventures and ex-chief people officer at Dr. Martens, and Alexander Crawford, co-head of investments, at Calculus Capital, will join the board.
Verwoert said: 鈥淭he recruitment landscape is changing rapidly. The challenges employers face today are fundamentally different to those we鈥檝e seen in previous years. And new challenges need new tools.
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鈥淎s we scaled the team at Dr. Martens, we constantly looked for new and innovative ways to help us develop our edge in the 鈥榬ace for talent鈥�. Arctic Shores鈥� platform gives its clients that edge by broadening the talent pool, hiring based on real skills and removing bias from outdated practices. I look forward to supporting them with Praetura’s 鈥榤ore than money鈥� promise as they continue to grow.鈥�
Alexander Crawford, co-head of investments, Calculus Capital added: 鈥淎rctic Shores has developed a fantastic platform which empowers employers to see the candidate鈥檚 potential, reduces bias, and makes hiring decisions backed by data. On top of that, it has an impressive list of clients in over 40 countries.
鈥淎rctic Shores is run by a strong and experienced management team, and we look forward to working with them to grow and scale the company over the next few years.鈥�
Following growth in Germany including major contracts with Airbus Siemens and Schneider Electric, the investment will further Arctic Shores鈥� European presence and market capability to accelerate in this region.
Headquartered in Manchester, Arctic Shores the company employs more than 70 people.