Potsdam/Berlin, September 1, 2016 – Milestone for CampusScout: The Potsdam startup has received new growth funding. As part of the “Gründung innovativ” program, CampusScout will be funded with a six-figure investment sum over a period of 18 months. The goal is to use the funding to further develop its innovative technology which searches for the right people for vocational training and university places. In addition, the Potsdam startup is also expanding its activities in the corporate sector. In the process, the company is being supported by the business-development agency of the state of Brandenburg, the ZukunftsAgentur Brandenburg (ZAB).
EU funding for founders with innovative ideas
The “Gründung innovativ” funding program is financed by EU funds and managed by the Investitionsbank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB) on behalf of the Brandenburg Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs, Health, Women and Family.
ZAB’s Managing Director, Sebastian Saule, expands on the topic: “Innovations are the motors of economic development. They ensure that companies – including of course the jobs at those companies – will still be around in the future. Therefore, one of our main goals as the business-development agency in Brandenburg is to support innovative concepts such as that of CampusScout. We wish the startup great success with their plan to improve the networking of students, apprentices and young professionals with educational institutions and companies. The business location of Brandenburg can also benefit from this networking.”
Further development of the technology and a focus on new target groups
CampusScout is using the growth funding to further develop its proprietary software and also to add personnel in the areas of marketing and account management. CampusScout founder Holger Jelich explains, “Our focus is on creating the technological as well as the personnel conditions to grow further and keep pace with the increasing number of customers and users. At the same time, CampusScout is strengthening its own activities in the corporate sector. To date, the startup has primarily acted as a digital recruitment platform for students and apprentices, but now its focus is increasingly on graduates and young professionals. Companies are now urgently searching for young, new employees. The competition in the war for talent is constantly growing.
Active, target-group specific outreach and placement of candidates
By questioning candidates on their interests, specialist knowledge and desired place of work beforehand, CampusScout can search for suitable apprentices and young professionals in a far more focused manner than the average recruitment platform, and take the criteria of company clients directly into consideration. Its knowledge of the wishes of the target group and its comprehensive industry expertise enable the CampusScout team to properly address candidate needs. “In this way, we not only guarantee a more efficient recruitment process but also a better fit between candidate and employer or educational institution,” explains Holger Jelich. “Our goal is to establish CampusScout long term as the most important platform for the search for university places and jobs. We want to become the Booking.com of the employment market.”