XING buys Venture Kick startup BuddyBroker
03.05.2016
XING has acquired the 2012 Venture Kick startup BuddyBroker and its product eqipia. eqipia is the leading intelligent and automated employee referral programme in Switzerland. The purchase price is set at CHF 3.2m.
 The BuddyBroker team: Flurin Müller and Patrick Mollet
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An earn-out payment of up to CHF 4.8m may also take effect if the operative goals are reached. BuddyBroker AG has seven employees who will all continue working for the company. Both founders, Flurin Müller (30) and Patrick Mollet (39), will stay on board to drive the product's further development. Companies like Migros, Swisscom, SBB, Zühlke, BKW (Bernische Kraftwerke) and EMC have already begun using eqipia successfully.
Employee referrals are on the rise in HR. In the USA, around 40 percent of all new hires can be attributed to referrals from employees. Employee referrals are already the most effective recruiting tool in the German-speaking world today. Most companies have implemented a bonus programme in order to make use of employee referrals. This, however, is a manual process that is inefficient and time-consuming for both HR and employees.
The “eqipia ReferralManager” digitalises and automates this complex process. It analyses employees' networks, which it can access via their XING profiles, and identifies suitable colleagues using a matching algorithm. These potential candidates can then be contacted automatically via the tool, significantly reducing the workload in HR. The employees concerned receive all the important information about the vacancy and can pass this on to their contacts. HR departments then receive transparent reports about the success of the recruiting tool. They also have the option of awarding a bonus for the successful referral of a contact.
Read full press release here.