Nxus, an Amsterdam-based EdTech startup offering solutions for knowledge institutions in the field of (alumni) community and internship (job) matching, recently announced that it has raised $162,000 (€150,000) in a funding round led by Rabobank Innovation Loan (RIL).
Founded in 2018 by Niels Baay, an alumnus of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, Nxus is a career and community platform that facilitates recruiting graduates and students from the talent pool of affiliated educational institutions. It enables students to create a skills portfolio containing a summary of the information and abilities they have acquired throughout their studies. This is done by converting the learning outcomes of study programmes into practical skills. The company matches students to internships and graduate positions based only on their talents.
By keeping the selection process anonymous until the student is asked for an interview by the company, the platform eliminates (unconscious) biases. Thus, Nxus offers all students an equal chance when entering the job market.
Speaking about the fundraising, the Founder of Nexus, Niels Baay, said:
We are very excited to have Rabobank invest in our mission to provide equal opportunities in the hiring of young professionals and to change the way we prepare today’s students for the skill-focused job market of tomorrow. This investment allows us to scale our solutions across the Dutch education sector, especially at MBO and HBO levels, where internship discrimination is a much-addressed issue demanding an explanation.
With its skills-based matching technique, Nxus removes all prejudices from the recruitment process and focuses on finding the best talent for the vacancy.
Ruben van Brunschot, Rabobank Account Manager SME, added:
As Rabobank, we see Nxus as a perfect collaboration. Both commercially and in terms of social impact, Nxus builds a great bridge between education and the world of employment.
Earlier, Nxus received a grant of €25,000 from the NWO (Dutch Research Council) and, to date, is a bootstrapped educational technology firm with a team of seven.