Google’s CEO, Eric Schmidt Funded Identified.com, A Startup By Nigerian Founders

By Loy Okezie On October 30, 2010 · 14505 Comments2010-10-30+19%3A53%3A03Loy+Okezie

At a time when Nigeria’s tech scene is gradually becoming the centre of the world’s attention, a Silicon Valley based startup, Identified.com, founded by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs has received seed funding from some of the Valley’s finest angel investors.

Identified is a new recruiting tool that takes your professional data across the social web and compounds it into a simple, yet robust career-building experience.

I recently got introduced to Nedu Ottih, one of the founding members of Identified by Nmachi Jidenma of CP-Africa.com, and he shared some insights into his social recruitment startup.

Here are his responses (unedited) to my questions about Identified.com

Why did you create Identified.com?

Nedu: Identified was created to solve the timeless problem of how to connect companies to job seekers in a seamless, efficient and effective manner. In particular, to replicate the real-world experience in which most people leverage their network in order to get a job.

What’s unique about Identified.com?

Nedu: Unlike other recruiting companies, which are primarily job boards, Identified allows its users to transform their social network into a professional recruiting tool and enables an interactive, dynamic two-way relationship between companies and job seekers

Any revenue model?

Nedu: While Identified has yet to finalize its business model, it plans to never charge job seekers for using its platform

Identified.com recently received funding. Can you comment?

Nedu: Identified has completed a seed financing round of $1.5 million from a diverse and distinguished set of Angel Investors including:

Eric Schmidt: Chairman and CEO of Google
Alexander Tamas: Partner of Digital Sky Technologies – investors in Facebook, Zynga and Groupon
Chamath Palihapitiya: VP of Growth, Mobile and International Expansion at Facebook

My thoughts

A global startup founded by Nigerian tech entrepreneurs that could attract funding from Silicon Valley’s angel investors is worth celebrating.

In just about 4 weeks of launch, Identified.com has added over 6000 users and counting.

In a global economic recession, getting a job means that you need to stand out or be shown the way out.

But since you need to know people who know people that matter to get your dream job, Identified.com wants to help you do just that.

While there are lots of job sites and portals that post job vacancies and opportunities, people still can’t find their dream jobs.

Perhaps Identified.com would help people get the best jobs via social recruitment.