Inclusio combines tech, psychology and AI to help employers strengthen their Diversity and Inclusion profiles. George Morahan looks at the Irish start-up that’s attracting private and state investment.
The growing focus on diversity and inclusion (D&I) has been credited as a by-product of the glut of US multinationals that have established operations in Ireland. A DCU spin-out is attempting to reverse the direction of travel and become a leader in the global effort to make workplaces more reflective of society.
Founded in 2020, Inclusio attempts to solve several problems experienced by D&I practitioners, specifically how to collect diversity data; how to help companies collect evidence of the impact of their D&I efforts; and how to help employees to disclose personal data and give their thoughts on their workplace while maintaining privacy.
Founder Sandra Healy describes Inclusio as combining technology, psychology, and AI and “bringing a scientific, evidence-based approach to measuring diversity and inclusion”. Employees at client organisations are encouraged to give daily feedback through its platform in 3-5 minute sessions over 15 days.
There is also a nudge learning component, whereby employees are served articles, videos, and personal stories to help them better understand what it is like for people who are different from themselves.
Healy says the combination of being counted, providing feedback, and nudge learning empowers people and democratises diversity and inclusion, and also helps clients to “identify their strengths and weaknesses and where they need to focus their efforts".
In Association with
The Inclusio website explains: “Scientific metrics report your culture of inclusion. Deep demographic insights give a profile of the breadth and layers of diversity in your organisation. D&I gap analysis ensures you get a relevant and clear picture to guide action planning and next steps. We also deliver comparative insights and intersectional reporting.”
For most of her career Healy (54) worked in sales and customer experience for telcos such as O2 and Vodafone. Inclusio was spun out of Dublin City University, where in 2018 Healy was the founding director of the college’s Centre of Excellence for Diversity & Inclusion.
As part of the spin-out, the university received shares with a value of c.€500,000 in Ether Inclusio Solutions Ltd.
The Inclusio platform has required substantial development investment. The company booked a loss of €590,000 in the nine months to December 2021 and Inclusio’s accounts filing states that the venture incurred a €1.1m loss in the nine months to September 2022. “The directors expect that the company will incur further loses in 2023 as the company continues to invest in its product and organisational capacity,” the filing states.
Knowledgeable investors believe Healy could be on to something. In September 2021, Inclusio sourced €550,000 each from VC investor University Bridge Fund and Bill McCabe’s Oyster Capital. Taxpayers were tapped for €350,000 through Enterprise Ireland in the funding round that totalled €1.66m.
Additional funding of €1.7m was secured in October 2022. University Bridge (€375k) and Oyster (€300k) followed-on, while private equity investor Elkstone invested €500,000.
The same investors chipped in again in December 2022, according to allotment filings. Elkstone invested another €1.25m while Inclusio sourced an additional €300k from Oyster and €375k from Enterprise Ireland, bringing total direct taxpayer funding from the state agency to €675,000.
Elkstone’s relationship with Enterprise Ireland is close. In April 2022, EI committed €20m from its Seed & Venture Capital Scheme to an EIIS fund managed by Elkstone. Venture partner Niall McEvoy is of the view that diversity and inclusion “is a critical issue for modern leadership teams in building the businesses of the future”.
Leo Clancy, Enterprise Ireland CEO, justifies the large amount of state aid for the start-up on the basis that “increased diversity fosters innovation, creative thinking and leads to better results for businesses”.
His enthusiasm is echoed by Simon Coveney, the new Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. “Diversity, inclusion, dignity and respect in the workplace are core elements with which this government wants to continue to build our economy,” the minister stated.
Inclusio’s other founders are operations director Deborah Murphy and technical director Arthur Lubambo, a software engineer. Margot Slattery, the former boss of Sodexo in Ireland, is a director and charter investor.
Sodexo is an Inclusio client, as are RSA Insurance, IPB Insurance, FBD Insurance, Linesight, concrete firm Kilsaran, the Public Appointments Service, and Teagasc, the farming state agency.
Inclusio is also working with Ulster University and Stanford University on a project around accommodations for staff with autism and conditions such as ADHD.
“The feedback we get is that there's nothing else like this in the world,” says Healy. “We've combined technology, psychology and artificial intelligence to bring something to the world that is very unique - a scientific, evidence-based approach to measuring Diversity & Inclusion. It's exciting times, and we're very grateful for the customers that we have on board now, because they are the leaders that will help us take the platform global.”
Photo: Sandra Healy with Inclusio co-founders Deborah Murphy (left) and Arthur Lubambo
