An artificial intelligence platform helps companies improve diversity

The platform helps companies track areas where they face specific challenges with diversity and inclusion

Spotted: It’s one thing to commit to having a diverse workplace, but it’s another thing entirely to actually deliver on this. Startup Diversio is hoping to make this easier with an AI-powered platform that tracks and analyses diversity in companies, and identifies where diversity processes are breaking down and how to get them back on track.

Diversio co-founder Laura McGee was inspired to start the company after attending CEO roundtables and hearing that companies want to improve diversity and inclusion, but lack the tools to set targets and track progress. Diversio’s software analyses employee survey data, using natural language processing algorithms to analyse the data for issues that are affecting diverse employees. The company then matches specific issues to action items taken from a list of proven programmes and policies from around the world.

The company launched in 2018, and since then has grown by around 300 per cent year-on-year. They are currently working with around 400 companies. They have recently raised $6.5 million in Series A funding from a group of investors including First Round Capital, Golden Ventures and Chandaria Family Holdings. The money will be used to expand and develop more targeted and customised data analysis and recommendations.

Diversio found little interest from funders at first, but since the growth of the Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements, diversity and inclusion began to be widely recognised as critical to businesses. McGee explained that, “Customers are expecting companies to take action, and investors are starting to ask questions when they allocate capital. And then equally the risk is becoming ever greater. If as a company you undergo a scandal, there is really nothing that can bring you down faster.”

Issues around diversity and inclusion are becoming much more visible, and are a growing problem for a number of companies. Yet, even companies who acknowledge they have a problem are often unsure of how to go about tracking or fixing it. In addition to Diversio, however, there are also other tools that can help. These include an evaluation framework for measuring diversity and inclusion and an employee engagement platform that encourages workplace diversity.