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Indianapolis-based human-resources-tech startup Qualifi has secured $4.5 million in growth capital, the company announced Wednesday.
The round was co-led by New York City-based m]x[v Capital and Menlo Park, California-based Rally Ventures.
Other investors included Syracuse, New York-based Armory Square Ventures; Indianapolis-based Sixty8 Capital and Elevate Ventures; Boulder, Colorado-based Techstars Fund; Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Converge Venture Partners; and Brooklyn, New York-based Debut Capital.
Rally Ventures, Techstars, Sixty8 Capital, Elevate Ventures, Debut Capital and Converge are repeat investors in Qualifi. New investors are m]x[v and Armory Square.
In connection with the investment, Armory Square’s partner and chief financial officer, Neenah Jain, will join Qualifi’s board of directors. And m]x[v General Partner Mark Ghermezian will become a board observer.
Qualifi offers a software platform that allows customers to screen job candidates by phone more quickly. The job candidates respond to pre-recorded questions and the information is transcribed and relayed to the hiring company, allowing the company to screen candidates much more quickly than it could through person-to-person conversations.
Because every job candidate gets the same automated screening interview, and because the interviews are audio-only, Qualifi says its technology can also help reduce the unconscious human bias that can affect hiring decisions.
“M]x[v is thrilled to be a part of Qualifi’s mission to transform how companies approach high-volume hiring,” Ghermezian said in a written statement. “The Qualifi platform is streamlining the recruitment process, eliminating friction for both employers and job candidates. By introducing equity, speed, and a structured process into an otherwise chaotic and daunting task, Qualifi empowers companies to make data-driven hiring decisions that will lead to more diverse and qualified teams.”
The funding round actually closed in January, but Qualifi did not publicly announce it until this week. Qualifi has now raised a total of $7.7 million since its 2019 launch. The company raised a $2.5 million seed round in February 2022 and a $600,000 pre-seed round in 2021.
This round was oversubscribed, meaning that the company ended up raising more than its original goal of $3 million.
“As the round developed, we saw an opportunity to up that [$3 million goal] and bring on these really great investors,” said Qualifi co-founder and CEO Darrian Mikell.
Mikell and his brother, Devyn Mikell, along with DeSean Prentice and Kennan Jaenicke, are the company’s co-founders.
Qualifi’s target customers are employers that do a high volume of hiring. Customers come from a variety of industries, including hospitals and health care systems, call centers and staffing agencies.
The company has 21 employees, with 12 living in Indiana and the rest living out-of-state. Qualifi operates as a remote company.
Darrian Mikell said Qualifi will use its investment in a variety of areas, including product development, sales and marketing. Those sales and marketing activities include traveling to participate in industry conferences, creating more marketing content and adding more sales staff.
He said Qualifi saw year-over-year revenue growth of more than 300% last year and expects similar or greater growth this year, but many potential customers are still unfamiliar with the company. “We are still kind of the new kids on the block, and relatively unknown,” Mikell said.
Qualifi earned the Exceptional Employer award last month in TechPoint’s 2023 Mira Awards, which honor businesses, organizations and individuals in Indiana’s tech industry. Darrian Mikell also earned a Mira Award in 2022 when he was named Rising Entrepreneur of the Year.
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