Amsterdam-based TestGorilla raises €8.4M to help companies hire diverse talent; here’s how

The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a paradigm shift in the way companies hire talent, and now they are focusing more on skills and intrinsic motivation over years of experience. Therefore, identifying the right kind of talent helps businesses in more than one way.

Raises Seed Funding

Amsterdam-based HR tech startup TestGorilla has raised $10M (nearly €8.4M) in seed funding to enable businesses in identifying better talent. This funding round was led by London-based VC firm Notion Capital, joined by global VC firm Partech, Jeff Weiner´s Next Play Ventures, and a group of high-profile HR tech entrepreneurs, including Indeed co-founder Paul Forster, Peakon co-founder Phil Chambers, and Justworks co-founder Isaac Oates.

With the proceeds, the startup plans to further develop TestGorilla’s proprietary technology and then increase the test library to cover more job skills, improving the platform’s ability to predict job success. In addition to that, the startup will look for international expansion and then focus on growth within its current core markets.

The Story of TestGorilla

TestGorilla was launched in 2020 by serial entrepreneur Wouter Durville, and former Bain & Company Partner Otto Verhage. Currently, the startup works with over 1,500 businesses, including the NHS, Sony, PepsiCo, and Bain & Company and more.  

The pre-assessment platform helps companies hire the right talent by assessing all factors relating to job success for the candidate, such as cognitive abilities, soft skills, specific job skills, culture fit, motivation, and language proficiency. 

Wouter Durville, co-founder of TestGorilla, says, “It’s unacceptable that only a quarter of the world’s workforce is in their dream job. Archaic hiring practices and unconscious bias have long fed into this problem as historically, companies rank candidates based on their CVs and gut instinct. TestGorilla, however, enables companies to rank candidates based on solid data, gathered through our relevant testing exercises. By developing our platform and growing our library of smart screening tests, we are making it easier for hiring managers – across industries and job roles – to make a fast, informed decision on a candidate based on the most important criteria. TestGorilla’s assessments highlight high-potential candidates, many of which they may not have been considered on the basis of their CV. It also puts an end to costly mis-hires.”

Last year, in November, the company raised $1.2M (nearly €1M) in Seed funding from CapitalT and a group of international angel investors.