Finnfund, Barona Technologies and Polkuni have committed €1.75m to Finnish-Kenyan start-up Fuzu to support business development and expansion in Africa. 

Finnfund’s contribution in the first phase will be €500k with possibility for extending it to €1.5m. 

Barona will invest €150k and Polkuni will contribute €100k during this investment round.

Founded in 2013, Fuzu has developed an intelligent career development, learning and recruitment platform for emerging markets. 

Company’s vision is to provide innovative solutions to challenges faced by millions of job seekers and employers across the emerging markets. 

For employers the platform offers advanced search and recruitment solutions with competence evaluation and algorithm based ranking to identify the best fitting candidates. 

For job seekers the platform provides career counselling, learning solutions and information about open positions and industry updates, providing support and guidance at different stages of user’s career.

Company that operates today in Kenya is planing to start rapid expansion to other African countries as well as Asia.

Jaakko Kangasniemi, Finnfund CEO, said: “If there is significant friction between supply and demand in the job markets, large amount of jobs fail to materialize and people are left unemployed. Fuzu eases this friction in places where poorly functioning job markets are a hindrance to development.” 

“For example in Kenya youth unemployment is a significant challenge. Fuzu provides job seekers with a possibility to demonstrate their skills and competencies and to find work that suits them,” he said.

Today, Fuzu has a community of more than 180,000 users in Kenya and hundreds of companies that use the platform for finding talent. The potential for growth is significant as there will be more than 120 million people entering the job market between 2010 and 2020 alone, making Africa the largest job market globally by 2040.

Jussi Hinkkanen, Fuzu CEO, said: “Youth unemployment is one of the most significant challenges of our time and unless solved will lead to social instability with serious global repercussions. Large part of our users have never received any type of career guidance or participated at professional education. Our vision is to provide hope to millions of users with a digital service that continuously encourages them to fulfil their potential and prepares for alternative career paths, from formal employment to entrepreneurship and self-employment.”

“We are truly excited about the confidence and courage demonstrated by Finnfund, Barona and Polkuni in investing in transformation of the job markets, thus improving the opportunities of millions of people in finding their place in the world,” he added.