BATON ROUGE – Skilltype, the talent management platform for libraries, announces that it has raised $1.75M to future-proof libraries globally.
Addressing the Digital Shift in Libraries
Skilltype’s mission is to modernize the library workforce with data-driven skill development. We believe libraries are more critical than ever. They advance towns, universities, and communities they serve by increasing access to quality information. The fourth Industrial Revolution and its digital shift present unprecedented challenges for libraries meeting a community’s information needs. This demands a radical reevaluation of the necessary skills and their acquisition methods. It also calls for new software, business models, and collaborations designed from the ground up. This will help libraries serve an increasingly diverse and distributed community in 2030 and beyond.
Strategic Partnerships and Financial Backing
Today, we’re excited to announce the addition of new resources and strategic partners to help fuel this mission. Skilltype has raised $1.7 million in seed financing. Led again by Pearl Fund, with participation from the Ruthless for Good Fund, Revelry Venture Partners and Manifold Group. In addition, we are bringing in our first strategic investor Technology from SAGE a portfolio of digital services from SAGE Publishing that improve the patron workflow. These partnerships allow us to add Aaron Walker (Ruthless for Good Fund), and Martha Sedgwick (SAGE) to our board of directors.
“Identifying strategic partners like SAGE has been a top priority since day one” says Tony Zanders, founder and CEO at Skilltype. “Future-proofing the library workforce is to tall a task for any one organization or team to accomplish, and SAGE’s track record in prioritizing library futures gives us a variety of opportunities to support our mission.”
“We’re witnessing a transformative decade when it comes to how individuals access information, and at SAGE, we believe the librarian’s role will be more important than ever before in helping patrons navigate these changes,” said Sedgwick. “This is why we are so excited by Tony’s aspirations for Skilltype – his team has built a very impressive solution that empowers librarians to continue to increase their value in communities and on campus. Our hope is that our support will increase Skilltype’s global impact.”
Empowering Libraries with Data-Driven Solutions
Skilltype uses linked data to identify skill gaps across an organization, while creating personalized training plans for every employee. Tools support this data-driven approach, allowing managers to discover expertise in their talent pool. These include recruitment, re-skilling, or succession planning, and empowering employees to steer their career development.
Skilltype’s track record of multiplying its revenue and customer base on minimal investment can be partly attributed to the racial and ethnic diversity of Skilltype’s staff, investors, and advisors. According to research by Credit Suisse, companies with diverse boards perform better financially. While still an early stage startup, 80 percent of the leadership team is Black, 65% of Skilltype’s employees are women. In addition, 40% of Skilltype’s funding and capitalization table was raised from racially-diverse investors.
Founded in 2018, Skilltype is the first talent management platform designed for the cultural heritage sector. After observing how skill gaps unique to galleries, libraries, archives, and museums (GLAM) are poorly addressed by traditional HR solutions, library software executive Tony Zanders set out to build a community of technologists and talent managers to develop a first of its kind platform that serves the community of libraries, professional associations, and iSchools. Entering its fifth year of operation, the company now serves over 150 organizations across 5 countries.
About Skilltype
Skilltype is a software company helping libraries and their workers develop talent using data. Headquartered in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Skilltype has more than 150 paying customers and a growing number of free organizations across five countries. Award-winning libraries such as University of Pennsylvania, Washington University in St. Louis, Broward County Library System, and San Jose State University iSchool, rely on Skilltype to manage professional development, skills analysis, team management, and expertise sharing with peer organizations in a consortium.
For more information, visit www.skilltype.com.