Friday, November 13, 2015

Ignition Backs Startup Looking To Reduce Hiring Bias In Tech

Can some clever software help to reduce hiring bias in the technology industry? In an industry which has been wringing its hands over what some say is a strongly biased industry against women and minorities, a new startup Unitive, has just scored funding from Bellevue's Ignition Partners to help to try to use software to reduce the bias by hiring managers in reviewing resumes. Unitive--based in Silicon Valley--said it has raised $7.5M in its Series A, led by Ignition, and also included Kapor Capital, Webb Investment Network, Floodgate and Correlation Ventures, to bring to the market its system for guide hiring managers through a rigorous, impartial and expedited "best fit" hiring decision process, which helps remove unconscious bias in hiring decisions. The company's software scrubs and shuffles the content of resumes to eliminate things like names and terms which might trigger unconscious bias by hiring employers, before they bring candidates in for an interview.