An obscure Brazilian startup is moving to Florida and along the way is impressing a couple of big names in the talent field.
The startup’s founder is Othamar Gama Filho, who went to the U.S. for college in Florida, and later started an RPO back in Brazil. Among other challenges, the labor laws in Brazil, he felt, made it hard to expand. It seemed like each time he wanted to grow and add employees, the costs went up enough that it was like one step forward and one step back. He then started something called Talentify.io, which has flown under the talent-acquisition-industry radar until this post. It’s now relocating to Orlando, with technical staff staying in Brazil.
Talentify.io basically handles the recruiting process for companies, like the Saks Fifth Avenue owner, for example, which is a customer. When the employer has an open job, Talentify finds people digitally, screens them such as via phone or text, ranks applicants with a job-fit score, gets them into the ATS, and schedules interviews with the most qualified people.
I told Filho this sounded a little like an RPO: someone else helps a company recruit, and then hands them a couple of the best people to make the final decision. He says that’s true, but the fact that the system is so heavily automated makes it cheaper, quicker, and more scalable than humans doing it.
Rudy Karsan, the former Kenexa CEO and a talent-industry long timer, has been in touch with the company and informally advising Filho a bit. “I love Talentify and the founder, Othamar,” Karsan says. “The vision of being a results-as-a-service platform, instead of just building another tool, will be a game changer. I also believe that they will be able the execute on being an end-to-end TA platform.”
Karsan would have liked to invest in Talentify, but can’t because of his non compete.
Sue Marks can. She’s also an industry veteran who heads the successful RPO company Cielo Talent. Marks says the startup has a “brilliant technical and user experience team,” and is putting a substantial amount of money into it.