Vumela funds Giraffe - A game-changer in the recruitment industry

The Vumela Fund, FirstRand’s enterprise and supplier development fund managed by Edge Growth, is proud to announce an exciting new equity investment in Giraffe – an automated high-volume recruitment start-up, using mobile technology and matching algorithms.

Vumela was the lead Investor in this round which also included global impact investor The Omidyar Network as well as local investors Forever Young Capital and Catapult Trust.

Shafin Anwarsha (Head of Product), Anish Shivdasani (CEO), Bradley Cowie (Head of Development)

Sam Tennant, Investment Principal at Edge Growth, says that Vumela is excited to partner with this exceptional team of entrepreneurs and investors. “We believe this funding round will enable Giraffe to aggressively scale its offering to impact thousands of jobseekers as well as improve its value proposition to the company's corporate customers. Our strong alignment in values was a key determinant in our investment decision. It's inspiring to see companies looking to create such positive social impact through sustainable and scalable business models.”

Giraffe is a fully automated digital recruitment solution that enables businesses to hire high volumes of medium-skilled workers faster than any existing recruitment solution, this is achieved through Giraffe's sophisticated matching algorithm. The platform allows jobseekers to upload their CVs through any browser-enabled cell phone at no data cost. The company’s algorithm then geolocates and matches the most appropriately skilled jobseekers with opportunities listed by Giraffe’s corporate customers.

The company now has over 500,000 jobseekers’ CVs on their database and have invited over 150,000 jobseekers for interviews to date.

The platform is expected to place over 100,000 jobseekers over the next three to five years, with 10,000 of these placements relating to jobseekers who had been unemployed for a period of greater than three months. The platform also aims to reduce staff turnover rates in high staff turnover industries, as well as improving gross disposable income of placed jobseekers through the platform’s proprietary geolocation software.

This offering created a powerful impact value proposition which is attractive to an impact investor like Vumela.

Anish Shivdasani, CEO of Giraffe, is delighted to partner with Edge Growth in their latest funding round. “There are very few credible early-stage investors in South Africa. Edge Growth stood out to us amongst other investors because of their credible track record, excellent team and strong alignment with our values.”