Criteria Corp is a market leading SaaS-based employment analytics platform that announced Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP) has made a $56 million strategic investment to accelerate product innovation and growth.
SEP Managing Directors Jason Babcoke and John Brennan and Vice President Kevin Cheng are joining Criteria’s board of directors in conjunction with this funding round.
Founded by Josh Millet, David Sherman, and Eric Loken in 2006, Criteria is a leader in web-based pre-employment testing.
The Criteria HireSelect service is web-based software that allows companies to implement a high-quality testing program quickly and cost-effectively without needing to spend money on costly consulting services.
“We are very excited about partnering with SEP to continue to grow our business,” said Millet (CEO of Criteria). “Their product focus and growth-driven approach make them an ideal partner for Criteria for the next phase of our development. This investment is an important validation of our approach, and we will use it to accelerate our go-to-market and invest heavily in product development in a way that we expect will be very impactful for our customers.”
The growth in the pre-employment testing and analytics market is driven by employers’ increased awareness of the high costs of turnover and unproductive hires. So employers are now relying on the use of evidence-based tools to help them make high stakes hiring decisions. And Criteria’s employment assessments have been shown to increase hiring success rates by an average of 52% and reduce turnover by 20-50%.
“We have experienced tremendous growth for many years and are excited about Criteria’s future with Sumeru’s support,” added Sherman (COO).
HireSelect features employment aptitude tests, employment personality tests, and basic skills tests. And Criteria has 3,500 active customers who have administered more than 15 million assessments.
“Criteria’s offerings fundamentally shape the most critical element of any company or organization by using proven employment analytics to help identify, hire, and develop talent. As a result, the company has seen break-out growth and is quickly becoming a category leader,” explained Babcoke. “Companies like Criteria with strong product and domain expertise are attractive investments for us and we are excited about partnering with the founders and management team to help write the next chapter of growth.”
Paul Hastings LLP served as legal advisor to Sumeru Equity Partners for this deal.
