Skillaz (Skilaz)

Skillaz (Skilaz LLC) is the developer of the tool of the same name for automating the selection, assessment and testing of candidates for mass and point vacancies.

Performance indicators

2020: Revenue - 346.5 million rubles, profit - 71.9 million rubles

Skillaz's revenue at the end of 2020 amounted to 346.5 million rubles, profit - 71.9 million rubles.

History

2024: HeadHunter takes ownership of 89.99% of Skillaz

At the end of August 2024, the recruiting service HeadHunter acquired 15% in the Skillaz recruitment automation platform. As a result, HeadHunter's stake in this company reached 89.99%. Financial terms of the transaction are not disclosed.

Skillaz is a Russian IT company specializing in a comprehensive approach to automating human resource management processes. It provides an online platform that presents tools for assessing employee knowledge and profiles, recruiting professionals and motivating workers through gamification. Skillaz offers comprehensive training and adaptation of new employees, and assesses their knowledge and needs for more efficient task execution. The company's portal presents projects of applications for automating the processes of work, workflow and payroll accounting, as well as recruiting and administrative functions.

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Freepik

It is claimed that the Skillaz HR platform, compared to traditional approaches, allows you to select staff 40% faster and hire employees 38% cheaper. This is achieved thanks to the use of solutions based on RPA (robotic processes). Skillaz has integration capabilities with other information platforms and systems, enabling organizations to build components to meet their needs. Skillaz works with the largest private and public companies, leaders in financial, energy, retail, transport, telecommunications, mining and other industries.

HeadHunter entered Skillaz's capital in February 2019, acquiring a 25.01 percent stake for 232 million rubles. In 2021, as a result of two transactions, HeadHunter increased its participation in the asset to 74.99%. The acquisition of another 15% was carried out through JSC Investment Company Hadhunter. The remaining 10% in the Skillaz structure belongs to the CEO of this company, Andrei Krylov^[1]%

2022: 8th place in the ranking "The largest providers of solutions in the field of HR-tech in Russia"

Skillaz took 8th place in the TAdviser rating, prepared on the basis of revenue from the implementation of projects in the field of HR-tech (Human Resources Technologies) in Russia at the end of 2022 and published in December 2023. More details here.

2021

HeadHunter's share of Skillaz increased to 65%

At the end of May 2021, HeadHunter received control in the Skillaz automated recruitment platform. The company spoke about the details in the financial report for the first quarter of 2021.

Prior to the deal, HeadHunter held a 25.01% stake and 40.01% purchase options. On May 25, 2021, the company's board of directors approved the exercise of the option, and on May 26, HeadHunter exercised the option, "based on Skillaz's results in the first quarter of 2021, future business plans and projected future cash flows," as stated in the financial statement, paying 623 million rubles. HeadHunter's share increased to 65%.

HeadHunter's share of Skillaz automated recruitment platform increased to 65%

Accordingly, on March 31, 2021, HeadHunter ceased to account for its equity method investment in Skillaz and consolidated Skillaz as a subsidiary.

Following our long-term expansion strategy into related markets, we consolidated control of Skillaz, one of Russia's leading SaaS companies for hire. We believe that this acquisition will lead to a unique combination of a powerful search platform and automated recruitment technologies that will allow us to provide comprehensive solutions for corporate clients, "said Mikhail Zhukov, CEO of HeadHunter .

As consolidation occurred on the final day of the first quarter of 2021, Skillaz's results for the first quarter of 2021 are not included in HeadHunter's first quarter earnings and comprehensive income statement. They will be included from the second quarter of 2021.

Finally, we remain committed to rewarding our shareholders and, after evaluating our current business performance and balance sheet liquidity, we are pleased to announce a 2020 dividend of $0.55 per share, representing approximately 75% of our adjusted net income for 2020, Zhukov added.

After the consolidation, Skillaz HeadHunter expects to increase revenue by 45-50% in 2021 compared to 2020.^[2]

Participation in TAdviser

In February 2021, TAdviser considered seven cloud services for managing candidates for recruiters - ATS (Applicable Tracking System), which are popular in Russia, with a comparative assessment of their functionality. According to the results of the study, the Skillaz platform was included in the category "Custom solutions." Read more here.

2019

Details of the transaction on the acquisition by HeadHunter of a stake in the Skillaz service

On May 17, 2019, the recruiting portal HeadHunter disclosed the details of the transaction to acquire a stake in the Skillaz automated recruitment service. This deal took place in February 2019, but its details were not disclosed.

From the prospectus of the initial placement of shares (IPO) HeadHunter it became known that the size of the acquired share amounted to 25.01%. The transaction amount amounted to 232 million rubles, the sellers were several individuals.

In addition, HeadHunter entered into an option with the same sellers to acquire another 40% stake in Skillaz from them. The option may be exercised between January 1, 2020 and June 30, 2021. If exercised, HeadHunter's stake in Skillaz will increase to 65.01%.

Initially, a 28% stake in the service was owned by the former vice president VimpelCom of "" (trademark Beeline""). In Sergey Rumyantsev 2018, he sold his shares to top managers. "Megaphone

10% in Skillaz was acquired by Megafon CEO Sergei Soldatenkov, 6% each by the operator's operating director Anna Serebryannikova, security director Pyotr Komarov and chief accountant Liubov Strelkina. By May 2019, Soldatenkov and Serebryannikova left their posts at Megafon, but Serebryannikova joined the operator's board of directors.

The founder and CEO of Skillaz had 70%. Andrey Krylov Later, Soldatenkov increased his stake in Skillaz to 33%, and Krylov, on the contrary, reduced it to 47%. It is not officially known from which of the mentioned persons acquired HeadHunter shares: according to to data the base "," Contour-Focus the distribution of shares in Skilaz LLC has not changed since then.

After the deal with HeadHunter, the shares of Soldatenkov and Krylov in Skillaz decreased to 25%, the rest of the participants - to 5% of each. It follows from this that HeadHunter bought out shares in Skillaz from all co-owners of the company, and if the option is exercised, it will also do so.

HeadHunter blocks accounts of employers using alternative bots to find jobs. Alexander Uraksin, founder of Stafory ( developer of the Vera robot), filed a complaint about this against HeadHunter with the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS). The FAS recognized the complaint as justified and opened cases both against HeadHunter and regarding the services of Rabota.ru and Superjob HeadHunter^[3]

Acquisition of the service share by HeadHunter

On February 13, 2019, it became known that HeadHunter he completed a deal to acquire a stake in the technology service of integrated automation of personnel recruitment Skillaz. The company's business was valued at about 1 billion rubles , taking into account the investment, while HeadHunter has the option of consolidating control over the coming years. The funds from the transaction will be used to develop the company and will go to significantly expand integration the Skillaz development team and services to multiply the product scale and business growth.

The purchase of Skillaz will allow HeadHunter to continue the course taken to transform the company into an HR-tech player with a full range of services aimed at increasing the efficiency and speed of recruiting. In the medium term, a deep integration of the HeadHunter sourcing platform with Skillaz products is possible to ensure that employers interact with candidates as efficiently as possible throughout the recruitment process from job placement to hiring and subsequent support.

Skillaz is developing a cloud-based comprehensive recruitment automation platform powered by artificial intelligence technology. The platform allows you to significantly reduce the cost of closing a position and increase the quality of hiring in companies, providing a full range of tools at all stages of recruiting - automatic search and preliminary evaluation of candidates, video interview recording, security check, offer, etc. At the same time, customers have ample opportunities to configure user roles and customize selection funnels, which is critical for the Enterprise segment.

author '= Mikhail Zhukov, CEO of HeadHunter ' We have been closely watching the development of the company since 2016 and, as of February 2019, we believe that the Skillaz solution is one of the most progressive and high-tech products in the HR-Tech market in Russia and the CIS, which has been proved by such significant projects as automation of recruiting processes of Sberbank and CSC Megafon. This acquisition is in line with the global trend in job-classifications, where leading "sourcing" companies strive to increase the value delivered to customers through vertical integration. Skillaz will remain operationally independent, ensuring flexibility and speed that its customers are already accustomed to. The product, as before, will primarily target the Enterprise segment, while we will continue to develop our own solution in parallel - Talantix, a mass recruiting automation service focused on small and medium-sized market segments.

author '= Andrey Krylov, founder and CEO of Skillaz ' For 3 years, we have managed to go from a video interview recording service to a comprehensive Enterprise solution for automating selection. As of February 2019, the product architecture allows complex integrations to be carried out as quickly as possible and meet customer requests in both line and professional hiring, significantly reducing the cost and time of closing positions. We hope that the partnership between HeadHunter and Skillaz will bring high value to our customers and, first of all, will significantly improve the experience of the recruiting process for both employers and candidates, which means that it will increase the efficiency of their interaction.

author '= Sergey Soldatenkov, ex-CEO of Megafon and co-owner of Skillaz ' The company is moving to an active phase of scaling, and we are pleased that it was during this period that it acquired a strategic partner in the person of HeadHunter. Together with my colleagues, co-investors, we are very pleased with our decision to support Skillaz and its team led by Andrey Krylov as part of the previous investment round - the company has shown excellent operating and financial results, as well as rising value from that moment. However, we do not sell our stakes in this transaction, retain a significant impact on key business decision-making and expect to further multiply its value as the approved strategy and benefits of the partnership with HeadHunter are implemented.

2017

As of 2017, Skillaz (Novye Eichar-Technologiya LLC) is a company developing the Skillaz recruiting platform, which gives the employer the opportunity to evaluate applicants for video interviews and other types of online assessments at a convenient time for him. To take part in the interview, the candidate must go to the site and answer questions, the interview time is limited. As additional assessment methods, audio recordings and written tests are used. On its website, the company claims that such a system can reduce HR costs by 10 times, and reduce the number of "live" interviews with candidates by 70%.

Second round of seed investment

In January 2017, the second round of seed investments was held, designed to scale the team and develop technology, the amount of investments was not disclosed. The first round of attracting seed investments took place in December 2015, attracted 180,000 euros.

S&P Capital invested in Skillaz

The shareholders of the Skillaz recruitment site included Sergey Rumyantsev, managing partner of the S&P Capital fund (Salt & Pepper Capital). The amount of the transaction and the amount of the share of participants in the authorized capital of the company was not disclosed.

The size of the investment is several hundred thousand dollars, the structure of the transaction implies entering the capital and providing a convertible loan.

"In the field of HR, technological revolutions happen much less often than in other business functions. Shoving job sites from morning to evening in search of the right candidate is no longer the most effective method. It is replaced by a self-learning technology that saves human and time resources of HR and line managers. Pilot projects that were implemented in the largest federal companies proved that Skillaz services work faster, more precisely, more convenient and profitable than traditional channels for attracting candidates. Having studied the plans and developments of the founders, we believe that in the coming years Skillaz may become one of the few Russian unicorns. We will continue to invest in promising services in this industry in the near future, "said Sergey Rumyantsev, Managing Partner of the S&P Capital Fund

2016

Owners

As of August 2016, the owners were Andrei Krylov (60%) and Grigory Sergeevich Dudash (30%).

Moving the main office to Vilnius

In early 2016, Skillaz decided to move its main office from Moscow to Vilnius, "for greater convenience in mastering European markets." According to a statement in the company's blog, Lithuania will be used as a platform for starting sales and finding partners in Europe among the priority markets: Germany, France, Great Britain. Commercial contracts are scheduled for the first quarter of 2016.

2015

Skillaz was founded by Andrey Krylov in 2015 and attracted several rounds of investment, including the last from Sergei Soldatenkov and top management Megafon

Notes