TalentQL, a Nigerian-based talent recruitment and outsourcing company, announced that it has been accepted in the 2021 edition of Techstars Toronto accelerator program.
The company will join nine other startups, including Plentywaka, in the class. Some days ago, Nigerian bus-hailing startup, Plentywaka announced its participation in the same class.
Launched in November 2020, TalentQL — Talent Quiet Location — seeks to build a pipeline of quality talents for African companies and hire, develop, and manage remote talent for global companies. It was founded by Founded by Adewale Yusuf, co-founder of Techpoint Africa; Opeyemi Awoyemi, co-founder of Jobberman; and Akintunde Sultan, co-founder of DevCareer.
TalentQL raised $300,000 in a pre-seed round led by Nigerian investment firm, Zedcrest Capital and accompanied by angel investors – Venture Platform’s Kola Aina and former Andela Executive, Prosper Otemuyiwa.
Apart from the $120,000 investment, the company will be receiving from Techstars, Adewale Yusuf said in an interview with Techcrunch that the backing will be crucial in two ways.
“First is how it operates going forward in a crowded tech talent marketplace with the likes of Ethiopia’s Gebeya and Nigeria’s Decagon and Semicolon. The other would be helping the company to be a global company, not just an African one.”
According to Sunil Sharma, the managing director of Techstars Toronto, “The rise of Nigeria is more widely appreciated now in terms of technology sectors like finance, mobility and e-commerce, where talented Nigerians are not only bringing innovation and disruption but are doing so rapidly and at scale.”
“Equally as intriguing is the opportunity relating to talent itself as Nigerians and Africans across the continent are contributing more to supporting tech companies across the world, and we think this is just the start.”
TalentQL says it currently has over 100 tech skills available with more than 2,000 developers on its platform which cater to clients from the U.S., Europe, Nigeria and Kenya. The CEO says the company is also in talks with some Fortune 500 companies to execute placements for their African expansion.
