ePoise raises over $500K from Orios, others

Bangalore-based ePoise Systems Pvt Ltd, a startup which automates interviews and enables talent analytics, has raised over $500,000 from VC firm Orios Venture Partners, Slideshare co-founder Amit Ranjan and other investors.

As per a press statement, the company will use the money for its new product 'ePoise Job Interviews app', which the firm claims to be the world's first mobile-based interview place. It allows job seekers to find jobs and take interviews from their smartphones.

ePoise was founded in 2012 by Sachin Agrawal and Bishan Singh, both alumni of London School of Business. Agrawal was a management consultant before starting ePoise. He has worked at IBM and management advisory firm Alvarez & Marsal, where he was part of the team that looked into restructuring of Lehman Brothers in Asia.

Singh has over 13 years of corporate experience, including a brief stint at IT solutions company Synchron.

"Having worked with various companies across the globe, both Bishan and I spent considerable time hiring. We realised that conducting interviews is the only effective way to select talent since most CVs, especially for junior to mid-levels, looked alike," said Agrawal, who is also CEO.

"Still, there is an 80 per cent rejection rate in the first round interviews and scheduling is always a challenge. In the entire process, one can well imagine how much time, effort and money gets wasted. The ePoise Job Interviews app addresses all these issues, and in addition helps companies find and engage with talent. We believe that it's only a matter of time when if an interview is worth attending, it happens on ePoise," he said.

Last year, ePoise had raised an undisclosed amount in seed funding from friends and family members.

Mumbai and Bangalore-based Orion Venture Partners has made over 35 seed and Series A type investments in Indian startups. The VC firm recently hit the road to raise $150 million (about Rs 950 crore) in its second fund, less than a year after raising Rs 300 crore (about $50 million) in the first outing.

Earlier this week, Orios and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) collectively put money in big data analytics startup IntelligenceNODE Consulting Pvt Ltd as part of a $4 million (Rs 26 crore) funding round.