Dubai-based Hopscotch raises seed investment for its women-only recruitment platform

Hopscotch, a Dubai-based recruitment platform for women has raised seed investment from Tim Baker, Managing Partner of a local digital media agency. The size of investment was not disclosed.

The startup had originally started as a traditional recruitment agency for women by Helen McGuire and Justin McGuire, who is the co-founder and CEO of MCG Associates, one of the leading executive search firms in Dubai that also has offices in London, Hong Kong and Singapore.

But after receiving the investment, Hopscotch has changed its model to become a tech platform that aims to have more than 50,000 women in its talent pool join it. The platform will enable these women to learn and connect directly with businesses and each other.

Helen McGuire, the co-founder and Managing Director of Hopscotch, speaking on the occasion, said, “At launch in 2016, Hopscotch was innovative as the region’s first empowerment platform to source work and opportunities for professional women. We have since worked with brands big and small as well as playing a part in the UN Women’s Empowerment Taskforce in the UAE, and this is just the start of our plans for Hopscotch’s expansion and digitisation.”

Tim Baker, the Managing Partner of hug digital media agency, speaking about making investment in the startup, said, “Having been involved in launching and growing a digital agency for the last 8 years, I’ve personally always wanted to get deeper into creating a disruptive digital product. I’ve loved watching Helen and Justin tackle a serious but obvious need, in supporting women in their job hunt, training and personal development.

“It seemed like a natural fit to support their ambition and help deliver this with a strong digital, global offering in order to reach and connect more women,” he added.

Recruitment agencies normally charge a certain percentage of annual gross salaries as placement fee when they successfully hire a candidate for a company and that’s what Hopscotch must have been doing. With the newly launched platform however, that might change.