Smarterer operates a crowdsourced skills-testing and assessment platform that lets candidates take online quizzes, earn badges, and quantify skills using adaptive machine-learning algorithms. Its flagship consumer tests claim to measure skills in as few as 10 questions and 120 seconds. The company launched Flock, an enterprise product that enables internal subject-matter experts to create and curate multiple-choice tests to map organizational skills and identify gaps. Smarterer aims to help companies with hiring, compensation, training and succession planning by providing a skills inventory. It has also targeted the freelance economy and powers assessments for a global freelancer marketplace serving nearly 3 million users, as well as clients like Care.com. With new capital intended to accelerate development and enterprise sales, the Boston-based startup has grown its total capital to $4.6M. Smarterer provides a quiz-based platform that lets job seekers demonstrate skills across more than 500 topics using crowdsourced test designs and a Glicko-based ranking system. The startup launched in late 2010 and has built engagement—its community has answered over 10 million questions, averaging about 70,000 answers per day. Its Excel test alone has seen more than 1 million answers, with users spending the equivalent of 176 days answering Excel questions. A product called “Skill Sets” lets companies embed Smarterer quizzes into online job applications, which drove a reported 1,250% growth in a single week. Smarterer is partnering with applicant-tracking and social-recruiting tools like The Resumator, Bullhorn Reach, and About.me to broaden employer adoption and profile integration. Financially, the company has raised capital to scale these efforts and continues to leverage partnerships to drive hiring workflows. Smarterer offers short, timed quizzes—about 10 multiple-choice questions in roughly 60 seconds—that immediately score users and generate embeddable badges for profiles. The system adapts to a user’s performance early in a test to select subsequent questions and produce a calibrated rank. Smarterer plans to crowdsource question creation and quality control, rewarding contributors and allowing users to flag problematic items. The company is running an invite-only private beta that uses badges to grant access. Management says it intends to monetize by working with recruiters and employers and hopes the product could eventually replace the traditional resume 'Skills' section. Smarterer was conceived by BzzAgent CEO Dave Balter, is led by CEO Jennifer Fremont-Smith, and operates from Boston with a four-person team.

Total raised

$5M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Feb 2014