Anthropos secured $2.7 million in funding to address talent shortages and skills development, which are top priorities for businesses today, according to Gartner. The startup aims to help companies enhance employees’ skill sets in alignment with business needs, thereby improving retention.
With offices in the US and Switzerland, Anthropos raised its pre-seed round led by Switzerland’s Founderful, with additional support from Eden Ventures, Exor Ventures, Zanichelli Venture, Alessandro Rivetti, and several angel investors in the EU and US.
Founded by Stefano Bellasio and Giacomo Marinangeli, who previously founded Cloud Academy Inc in 2013, Anthropos aims to revolutionize skill development and retention strategies for enterprises. The duo successfully grew Cloud Academy Inc to over $25 million in ARR with Fortune 500 clients like Microsoft, Warner Media, and Deloitte. Recognizing a common challenge faced by their enterprise clients—employee retention and skills development—Stefano and Giacomo launched Anthropos after exiting Cloud Academy Inc.
Anthropos offers a modern, employee-centric platform that enables companies to consolidate their skills, employee experiences, and training resources. The platform allows companies to create customized skill development paths for every role within the organization. This approach enables employees to enhance their skills in line with their career aspirations, while companies can continually assess and verify the skills required for each role. Anthropos replaces the traditional method of using lengthy employee questionnaires to assess skill levels. The platform can verify both soft and technical skills at various stages of the employee lifecycle, from recruitment to training and career progression.
As part of its offering, Anthropos has developed a skills taxonomy covering over 60,000 skills and 18,000 job roles. The company has also introduced AI Job Simulations, a technology that allows companies to assess candidates at scale by placing them in realistic scenarios with virtual customers, stakeholders, and colleagues. This enables candidates to demonstrate their skills in real-life situations. Early adopters of Anthropos are leveraging AI Job Simulations to assess and prepare candidates for new roles, enabling them to learn from simulated interactions with customers and teams.
Anthropos aims to create a personalized learning environment within organizations, enabling employees to learn and grow alongside the business. The platform also acts as a networking tool, allowing employees to identify mentors and learn from their colleagues’ experiences and skills. Since its launch earlier this year, Anthropos has garnered interest from tech and tech consulting firms, which are using the platform to enhance competitiveness and retain top talent. Customers are leveraging Anthropos to quickly verify employees’ skills for new roles, identify the right individuals for specific projects, and assess candidates at scale using AI Job Simulations.
“It’s a great opportunity for companies, and we’ve seen it first hand, modern generations consider growth and a clear path to learning new skills as the most important aspect of their jobs,” commented CEO, Stefano Bellasio. “It’s more important than your salary or bonuses. If you can’t provide this, you will see employees joining and leaving within month.”
