Sparkmind.vc Builds a Learning Proposition in Fuzu

Sparkmind.vc has announced its first investment in Fuzu, an online job platform domiciled in Finland, on their Series A to build their learning proposition.

Sparkmind.vc, a new Nordic education focused venture capital fund, has acted as a lead investor in Fuzu Series A, making an investment of €1.5 million on Fuzu’s €3.4 million Series A. The investment round supports the development of the next phase of the Fuzu.com platform and learning proposition, helps to strength the team across core markets and accelerates expansion across Africa. Fuzu is present in Kenya.

“We are impressed by the Fuzu team and what they have built so far, and we look forward to work with Jussi (Hinkkanen, founder and CEO of Fuzu) and his colleagues. Fuzu fits well in our investment focus as a prime example of digitally distributed, personalised lifelong learning solution that can be made accessible to tens of millions of users,” says Sparkmind.vc Partner Vesa Laakso.

Today, Fuzu has a community of close to a million users in Kenya and Uganda and more than 1,000 organizations have used the platform for finding and nurturing talent. The potential for growth is significant with the African working age population more than doubling between 2020 and 2040 to 1.1 billion people, making Africa the largest job market globally.

”We firmly believe that every human being is born with talent and that every organization wants to maximize their value to their clients. But lack of access to opportunities,support and talent make career builders and organizations fall short of their true potential,” says Jussi. Adding, “We change this by providing access to opportunities and personalised learning and guidance, and by ensuring that organizations can access just the right talent and market data, maximizing their chances for success. Our aim is to transform the African job markets and to help people learn and grow throughout their careers.”

Other investors in Series A include Finnfund, Cornerstone Enterprises, Aucfan Incubate, Seedstars International, Kepple Africa Ventures and Barona as well as a group of individual investors.

Fuzu Limited was founded in 2013 in Finland by an experienced team of Africa and emerging market specialists. Fuzu combines the strengths of the world-renowned Finnish education and innovation system with deep understanding of the end-user, their needs and aspirations. Fuzu aims to change the landscape of job search and recruitment and to become the undisputed home of African talent by preparing people and organizations for success. The name Fuzu comes from Swahili for ‘self-made success.’