Smarterer is now better helping companies make more informed decisions, with the help of $1.6 million. The Boston-based startup announced Thursday its newfound financing would be used to fuel the development and growth of its new enterprise skills assessment solution Flock.
The round was led by venture firm Rethink Education. Along with the funding, Rethink Managing Partner Rick Segal joined Smarterer's board. Also participating in the round were existing investors True Ventures and Boston Seed Capital, as well as Deborah Quazzo, founder and managing partner of broker dealer GSV Advisors.
Flock is able to inform the entire employee lifecycle, from recruiting to succession planning. With Smarterer's new "TeamSourcing" technology, companies can invite internal team members to write skill test questions that express the necessary information an individual would need to be successful in a particular role. Subject matter experts inside the company are then able to curate the content by adding, editing or deleting questions.
The result is not only a unique multiple-choice test that best reflects an organization, but also, as Smarterer describes, "groundbreaking insight into the unique knowledge that defines an organization, and a clear understanding of where a company's skill gaps exist." Smarterer's TeamSourcing technology is meant to help a company discover its "unique skill DNA" and assess a team's competencies.
"The most vital big data of any company is its people, and their value is most defined by the skills they possess," explained Smarterer Co-founder Dave Balter in an email to BostInno. Along with the rollout of the new technology, Balter also announced he would be transitioning from his previous role as executive chairman to CEO.
"I couldn't be more thrilled to lead the team, with all the energy surrounding the company right now," Balter added.
Roughly 25 million questions have been answered on Smarterer since the startup's founding in late 2010, and 2.3 million test sessions have been held. With Smarterer, companies or individuals are able to quantify any skill in as few as 10 questions and 120 seconds through the team's use of crowdsourcing technology and an adaptive machine-learning algorithm.
Skills assessment for the newly-IPO'd Care.com is being powered by Smarterer. The online marketplace for personal services currently caters to more than 4.5 million caregivers and 5.2 million families. Most recently, Smarterer also partnered with online work marketplace Elance to help quantify the skills of 2.8 million freelancers.
This latest $1.6 million round brings the total investment in Smarterer to $4.6 million.
