Reejig joins Airbnb, Atlassian as start-up elite

This Sydney software company has been handed an honour previously received by the likes of Google, and CEO Siobhan Savage says she ‘doesn’t want to screw it up’.

CEO Siobhan Savage and former Westpac CEO Brian Hartzer who has been appointed chairman of Reejig.

Software start-up Reejig has been handed one of technology’s highest honours – named a Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum, following the likes of previous winners Atlassian, Airbnb and Google as it ramps up hiring in the face of a challenging economy.

Reejig has developed what it says is the world’s first independently audited ethical talent AI, created in partnership with the University of Technology Sydney, that it uses to ensure that ­biases are significantly reduced from the recruitment and talent management process.

Chaired by former Westpac chief executive Brian Hartzer and led by CEO and co-founder Siobhan Savage, Reejig uses AI to give management an overview of the skills base within a company’s workforce to clients including Woolworths, AWS and KPMG. It gives managers visibility over all the skills their employees have, and can predict where skills gaps lie.

“For Reejig as an Australian company to be recognised out of all the companies in the world as a technology pioneer, that’s a big deal for us and validates our mission,” Ms Savage said. “We’re working to drive the use of ethical AI to create this new world with zero wasted potential. So from a business perspective, it’s incredible, and personally it feels like an awful lot of responsibility now not to screw this up.

“We’ve got this global platform that is going to enable us to change workforces around the world at scale.”

Reejig recently raised $21m through a funding round from investors including AirTree and Atlassian co-CEO Scott Farquhar and wife Kim Jackson. AirTree says Reejig is one of the fastest-growing companies in its portfolio. Reejig has hired Greta Bradman, an acclaimed opera singer, tech investor and wife of Culture Amp CEO Didier Elzinga, as its head of Zero Wasted ­Potential.

Culture Amp co-founders and husband and wife duo Didier Elzinga and Greta Bradman in their Richmond offices. Picture: Aaron Francis/The Australian

“The World Economic Forum has this ability to shine a spotlight where it needs to shine at any given point in time, and this is recognition of what Siobhan has built as well as a demonstration that what Reejig is doing is what the world needs right now,” Ms Bradman said.

Despite start-up valuations coming under pressure and some analysts predicting a similar bust to the dotcom era of the 1990s and 2000s, Ms Savage said Reejig was in a “great position”.

“We’re growing so rapidly in terms of our revenue, and we don’t want to make decisions based on fear just because everyone’s saying stuff,” she said.

“We’re in a really good spot where we’ve got the best investors in the world, but also our revenue has grown so rapidly, and our team continues to expand.