Scott Farquhar and Kim Jackson's investment fund Skip Capital is backing another woman-led startup as part of a £1.5 million ($2.7 million) investment seed round in recruitment platform Applied.
Applied removes information from job applications such as name, address, hobbies and education (both years and institution) which may introduce bias when reviewing candidates.
"The name Kate is irrelevant to how I would perform at a tech company," says Applied co-founder and chief executive Kate Glazebrook. "Yet we know as soon as people are aware of the name Kate certain biases creep in."
The power of this bias is illustrated by research conducted by the Diversity Council of Australia last year which found chief executives and chairs in top Australian businesses are more likely to be named Peter or John than to be female.
Ms Glazebrook grew up in Sydney and studied economics before working for treasury and then moving to the UK five years ago as part of the UK government's Behavioural Insight Team known as the "nudge unit".
The unit uses behavioural economics to influence the way people think and act, and while working there Ms Glazebrook and her co-founder, Richard Marr, came up with the idea for Applied. Read more
Cara Waters - Brisbane Times - 16 October 2018