Day: September 16, 2021

Some consider “diversity & inclusion” a buzzword of the modern business world; others consider it the foundation (and future) of profitable business.

A study by McKinsey & Company found that companies with ethnically/culturally diverse boards worldwide are 43% more likely to experience higher profits. Other studies have shown that racially-diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams by 35%. 

While the value of diverse organizations is becoming much clearer, finding ways to ensure diverse candidates find their way into the talent funnel is an entirely different complexity – one which companies across the globe continue to struggle with.

Enter Humanly, a unified conversational AI platform for recruitment. Designed to save recruitment teams extensive time, Humanly ensures an amazing brand-forward candidate experience while supporting bias-free diversity and inclusion through equitable screening.

Diversity & efficiency in hiring

Prem Kumar, Co-Founder & CEO of Humanly, knows firsthand the problem of diversity in hiring. Kumar spent the majority of his career at Microsoft in Product Management roles working on employee engagement, talent acquisition and other HR-focused products – many of which became integrated and transformed via Microsoft’s acquisition of LinkedIn.

“I had always dreamt of entering the startup ecosystem,” said Kumar, “But I wanted to build a product that would bring companies immediate value while supporting diversity and inclusion. Humanly was born out of that mission.”

Numerous tools have existed for sourcing candidates and managing candidates (like ATS software) – but the screening and “conversational” part of the recruitment funnel had always been a manual, time-intensive practice – one that is notoriously subjective and open to the infiltration of bias in the hiring process.

“There are numerous tools in sales and marketing departments to engage with prospects,” said Kumar. “But none existed which were designed to help HR/talent departments engage in conversations with candidates.”

Humanly graduated from Y Combinator in 2019 and is committed to leveraging ethical AI by continuing to diversify its 10-person team, which currently counts a 50% diversity in both gender and ethnicity.

From left: Humanly Co-founders Bryan Leptich, Prem Kumar & Andrew Gardner.

Creating “blindness”

Less than 14% of companies have robust, comprehensive diversity and inclusion training programs. While those among the 14% who do train for eliminating unconscious biases at work, little data exists when it comes to measuring and understanding the effectiveness of unconscious bias training.

The scope of diversity and inclusion epidemic in the modern workplace starts at the granular level: the average recruitment professional spends less than 7 seconds on a resume. From names to gender to experience to education, bias can take its roots in almost every square inch of a candidate’s CV.

Automating recruitment conversations helps create a “blindness” that drives up diversity and inclusion – which companies, employees and consumers are desperately calling for. Nearly 60% of employees think their companies should be more diverse; nearly 70% of job-seekers evaluate a company’s diversity before applying to or accepting a job offer; and end-consumers are increasingly paying attention to corporations’ stances on diversity, making purchasing decisions accordingly.

The studies are staggering and difficult to ignore. One study from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that all else being equal, resumes with “white-sounding” names received nearly 50% more call-backs than those with “black-sounding” names. Other studies made waves in The New York Times showing that “blind hiring” increased the likelihood of women being hired by anywhere from 25% to 46%.

“More diverse teams mean stronger teams,” said Kumar. “Aside from being better for business at the bottom-line, it’s better for society as a whole – something we are extremely proud about.”

Purpose-driven growth

Indeed, the response to Humanly is a testament to the urgent need for equitable, streamlined recruitment solutions in the market. Since its founding in 2019, Humanly has seen 6X growth over the last year after raising an initial pre-seed round of $1.1M USD.

With the announcement of their seed round of $4.2M USD, Humanly is well-positioned for the future. Currently focused on mid-market organizations, this latest round of financing will help Humanly break in at the enterprise-level, with Microsoft already onboarded as a major global client, as well as help support engineering, design and product management growth.

When it comes to the team at Formentera Capital, Kumar remembers his first exchange with them – and knew they were the right types of investment partners for Humanly.

“I had met Cherif {Habib} at a tech accelerator event series,” said Kumar, “and instantly felt a connection. Aside from being incredible entrepreneurs, the team at Formentera Capital truly cared about the problem we were trying to solve.”

Beyond being mission-driven, Kumar appreciated Formentera Capital’s commitment to helping startups move forward. “They are extremely founder-friendly: the FC team brings mentorship, operational expertise, and guidance that founders actually need. It’s much more than just capital.”

Formentera Capital is an early-stage venture capital firm investing in tech-enabled companies that are good for the world.