WATCH: This IIM Bangalore-incubated HR tech startup helps companies hire candidates according to soft skills
With its talent management tool, Bengaluru-based startup nTalents helps candidates navigate job-specific scenarios in a gamified environment and explain or demonstrate what they would do in those circumstances. YourStory recently sat down with the Co-founders to know more.
According to the 2019 Global Talent Trends report by LinkedIn, soft skills are going to be the most important trend in the HR industry.
Almost 95 percent of talent professionals in India prioritised soft skills, putting the country to the third position globally where this trend is going to be critical while hiring.
And nTalents, started by three college friends -- Mayank Sharma, Deepika Anu, and Varun Narula --works to help companies hire the right candidates based on their soft skills; aka their psychological and cognitive profile.
In this video interview with YourStory, the Co-founders of nTalents explain how the startup’s talent management tool helps candidates navigate job-specific scenarios in a gamified environment and explain or demonstrate what they would do in those circumstances.
The algorithm churns out hundreds of candidate data points like facial expressions, words used, tone and inflexion of voice, micro-gestures, digital behaviour and in-game decision making to deliver behavioural assessments, which the founders claim is with “unparalleled accuracy against any conventional, non-technology-driven process”.
“We offer a range of talent assessments like Comprehensive BPC (Behavioural, Psychometric, and Cognitive) Profiler, BPC Profiler Platform, Cognitive and Psychometric Profiler, and HD Recruitment Service. The candidate attempts an online session of 45-50 minutes and a comprehensive BPC profile of the candidate is generated,” says Deepika.
Moving forward
The startup, which was incubated by IIM Bangalore, was founded in 2017. At the very outset, in April 2017, nTalents received seed grants from Goldman Sachs and IIT Delhi, which went into product development. The product was launched in April 2018, and the first revenue started coming in by May 2018 along with another seed grant from the Eklavya Foundation led by Prof Sunil Handa from IIM Ahmedabad.
In September 2018, nTalents also raised a seed round from Niti Aayog through IIM Bangalore’s startup incubator ‘NSRCEL’ to accelerate sales processes.
(L-R) Varun Narula, Deepika Anu and Mayank Sharma
At present, nTalents is engaged with enterprises like Emcure Pharma, Brinton Pharma, KLAY Preschools, Religare Insurance, Peps Industries etc. It is also running pilots across several industries for varied job roles at companies like HDFC, Cafe Coffee Day, Eurokids, Oyo Rooms, ACT Fibernet, Chai Point, and Freshworks, among others.
The startup experienced average revenue growth of 44 percent per quarter since the launch of its final product. For FY19, the company achieved revenue of Rs 50 lakh and targets Rs 80-90 lakh for FY20. Besides, nTalents also aims to raise a round of $500,000 in the coming quarter to strengthen its product development and business teams.
“The round will also help us explore the Asia Pacific market beyond India to post a consistent double-digit growth for subsequent years,” says Varun.
With limitless opportunities in HR tech, which is estimated to be a $34 billion global industry by 2021, there is plenty of space for startups like nTalents to grow and add value to the recruitment game in India.
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