Bulgaria-based job matching startup nPloy lands $2M to disrupt the recruitment market in Europe

Even with the looming recession, employers continue to face headwinds in finding the right workers as more than 20 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs in the second half of 2021, in what’s come to be known as the Great Resignation. It was one of the highest “quit rates” ever recorded since the government started keeping track two decades ago.

The United States is alone. Workers in Europe are also quitting their jobs in search of more flexible conditions. As European employers face the challenge of hiring qualified workers and the demand for tech talent soars, one Bulgaria-based job matching startup called nPloy is aiming to transform the European recruitment market around and transforms the way employers and candidates find the perfect match.

nPloy is an online platform that directly matches and connects candidates and employers based on the dating apps model. The platform has already attracted more than 85,000 candidates and 500 employers on the Bulgarian and Romanian market, and now aims to expand.

Today, nPloy announced it has raised €2 million in first investment round to start transforming the recruitment market in Europe. The round was led by the local VC firm “Morningside Hill” setting the goal of expanding the platform to Central and East European countries.

Founded in 2018 by co-founder Konstantin Tsonev, nPloy is a mobile app that provides job seekers with job search and offers human resources, staffing & recruiting services to organizations. The app’s smart algorithm shows the candidates only job ads that meet all their requirements, including salary.

“Mass online job posting platforms, not only on the Balkans, but also in Europe, are often clumsy and inefficient. This is exactly what we want to change with nPloy, having successfully built an innovative job-matching platform based on the dating apps models. We’ve replaced the standard pre-screening process with an AI algorithm allowing users to see only vacancies relevant to their experience and requirements, and employers to source the right candidates more efficiently.” says nPloy Co-Founder Konstantin Tsonev.

Currently, nPloy is used by over 85 thousand users and over 500 employers, including BIC, SAP, Lidl, Postbank and others. The platform offers an extremely transparent and efficient selection process. Companies gain access to each candidate’s professional experience and skills, excluding personal data such as names, gender, age and current employer. That guarantees maximum objectivity and fairness of the process to avoid unconscious bias. Employers also have access to the anonymous candidate pool of all users to filter and analyze the market potential of each vacancy they plan to post.

“We invested in nPloy because we believe in the urgent need of transforming the recruitment market in Europe. Every good idea needs a great business plan and people who are passionate about its implementation, and nPloy has exactly that,” said Pavel Velkov, managing partner in the VC firm Morningside Hill.

nPloy is the only platform where users always know whether their application has been reviewed, approved or not, so the feedback is instant. If mutual interest is shown as in the dating apps, a chat automatically opens between the two parties and a video interview can be scheduled. The latest version of the mobile app also offers the possibility for candidates to follow tailored news, join clubs with like-minded people and various types of career-related online events.

“nPloy’s goal is to make things easier. Job finding doesn’t have to be such a complicated and slow process when there are modern technologies to solve these problems. In a market with low unemployment rates and growth in job openings, candidates don’t want to waste time in a couple of interviews just to find out that their financial expectations don’t even meet, for example. Any difficulty, delay and inefficient processes turn down a large number of applicants. This is where nPloy comes in – you create a quick profile and you can immediately apply or wait for an employer to send you a match request for a suitable position,” said Maria Petrova, director of business development in nPloy.

The main objective of the team now is to grow to new markets in Central and Eastern Europe. The platform has recently launched on the Romanian market and the feedback is impressive. The founders aim by the end of 2023 the platform will be active in 10 more countries and plan a successful A round of investment for global growth.