Two women of Ugandan origin have raised $1 million in funding for their start-up company in the US state of Kansas.
Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall, whose parents are immigrants, raised the money for their company, QuickHire, becoming the first ever black women to raise such amount in the state of Kansas.
QuickHire is a career discovery platform for the service economy workforce. The company partners with job seekers to find career fulfilment by finding the right job and advancement opportunities.
The seed funding round was led by MATH Venture Partners.
“We see the QuickHire team approaching the market differently – putting skilled trade and service workers first in geographies that have been traditionally overlooked,” says Dana Wright, the managing partner at MATH Venture Partners.
“The timing is right for this approach. We are excited to be part of this funding round, providing fuel for product innovation and market expansion,” adds Wright.
Muhwezi-Hall says the funding will go towards technology investments and team expansion..
“We are underserved founders serving underserved workers. The more barriers we can remove, the more opportunity we can unleash for deserving, hard-working people,” she says.
QuickHire was started in April 2021 and now boasts of more than 60 clients, including Fuzzy’s Taco Shop and Homewood Suites by Hilton, as well as more than 11,000 job seekers.
“Nearly 110 million people in the U.S. work in the service industry, yet, employment technology innovations primarily cater to white-collar jobs,” Gladney stated.