Placed App banks £4 million to bring quizzes into the job application process

Placed App, a GenZ-focused recruitment startup based out of London, yesterday confirmed the details of a £4 million investment round.

The £4 million round is being co-led by Praetura Ventures and Blackfinch Ventures, and will see two non-executive directors join the startup's board of directors; namely Social Chain co-founder Dominic McGregor, an operational partner with Praetura Ventures, and Blackfinch partner Bill Boorman.

Placed App wants you to imagine landing your dream job by completing quizzes and not overly getting stressed out about interviews.

Much has been said about the Great Resignation, which in the UK service sector saw 210,000 people leave their roles, and there's also the prospect of younger, more tech-savvy job applicants.

With its software, Placed App is offering bespoke matchmaking to automatically pair candidates to suited roles. The company says it has PizzaExpress, O2, Sky, Lidl and Greene King on board, among its early-stage clients.

Placed App's earlier backers include angel investor Martin Robinson, the current chairperson at Burger King's UK subsidiary and the hotel chain Travelodge.

Jennifer Johannson, the founding CEO of the startup, is also a mentor on Virgin's StartUp programme. Johannson said: "The staffing crisis in the service sector is a real issue for the growth of the UK economy.

"At Placed, we are incredibly proud to be at the forefront of driving innovation to support these industries, and we have seen immense demand for our business in the last 18 months.

“We are very excited to welcome Praetura Ventures and Blackfinch Ventures to the next phase of our journey. Their support will help us to fuel further growth, including our plans to double our head count in the next year, and to develop our product features.”

Reuben Wilcock, head of ventures at Blackfinch, added: "Placed is run by a highly tenacious founder, who successfully navigated the dire impacts of the pandemic on the retail and hospitality sectors to achieve strong growth and several enterprise customer sign-ups in 2021.

"The company’s product is slickly designed and is highly valued by its customers and we are confident that the business has the potential to become the leading recruitment platform in the UK’s retail and hospitality sectors.”