I know the places such as OpenVC https://www.openvc.app/, but I do not know anyone that had any experience with it. I am really not sure if anyone has invested in projects from Serbia outside ElevenFund, SouthCentral Ventures and few more.
For someone wondering why not to look for local investments: Aside from the current political turmoil, the investment here is not that encouraging - you give away a large percent of equity for the investment that is not enough to cover yearly costs in some cases.
About the project: I come from the HR field, and in current climate finding job is really hard. A lot of candidates apply, and at the same time a lot of positions are saturated with applications, that most of the time are not even viewed. This in turn makes finding job even harder.
The traditional ATS model feels like black hole where you just throw your resume and hope for the best. With the addition of AI to analyze and pick resumes it gets even worse. Additionally, a lot of them are saturated with features which most people either don't use or know how to use at all.
Getting rejected from one company shouldn't be the end of the road when searching for job, it should be just the start until it is finished and concludes with hiring somewhere.
The idea itself is to connect applicants (with their consent) that have been rejected, with other companies that are looking for same profiles. This cuts Time To Hire saving the costs for company on the one side, and at the same time it cuts the time for people to find a job, since the system matches them with potential companies in a similar way like dating apps. It can also reduce reliance on hiring agencies as time goes by.
As more people use the ATS the database will get bigger, thus the quality of the matches will get better. The AI here can be used for better matchmaking and building better recommendation system, while making sure that there is human behind the feels to check every match, resume and so on.
I have already built an MVP that shows how it would function, and am currently in the process of working out with friend in making it to be in usable state for others. I've researched PMF (Product Market Fit) and how it fits in current market. As for the monetization I have additional ideas aside for the typical subscription payed per seat/package.
The product itself is B2B oriented with both the individuals and companies being the beneficiaries of it.
I am open to hearing more on how should I proceed in this regards and where to go next really because finding investment from Serbia seems like looking to find a needle in a haystack.
Additional or alternative investors in Germany can be found on the webpages of BVK e.V., of the German state-owned bank KfW or of the German Business Angel Association An overview of international investors is provided by Invest Europe and by the European Business Angel Association. Funds, that primarily invest in social matters are for example Bonventure or Ananda. Several cities and large companies have accelerators and incubators where founders can get support in starting their business. An overview can be found here: https://www.eu-startups.com/2016/02/startup-accelerators-in-... To get additional support in founding a company please have a look at the Enterprise Europe Network. • Webpages like www.entrepreneur.com or www.eu-startups.com offer some insights and tips when starting a company and writing a business plan. To find a co-founder there are several start-up weekends all over Europe and platforms like www.cofounderslab.com or www.founder2be.com.
Believe me, I've wasted years filling out forms and proposals for investors who only want a sure profit. There's nothing you can do when the fear is on the other side.
London has decent investors and while they are not as risk-taking as SF ones, they are still quite reasonable.
EU investors, with some tiny exceptions, are terrible in that regard.