Automated scalability and cost optimization
Highly secure and resilient platform
Accelerated development using managed services
Powerful models
According to Deloitte Fast 50, Maqqie is the second-fastest-growing technology startup in the Netherlands
Maqqie chose Google Cloud for a secure, scalable open platform to support rapid growth
Founded in 2017, the Dutch startup Maqqie offers a recruitment platform that brings together supply and demand within the job market. The company's innovative solution sets itself apart with its capacity to handle the entire process, from scouting the right candidate and drawing up the contract, right through to managing payroll. A unique and smart capability of the Maqqie platform which is explained below under 'Innovating by harnessing Google Cloud's data and AI services.’ Maqqie automatically applies the relevant collective agreement and stipulations as appropriate, and its solution is suitable for all types of contracts (from permanent to fixed-term contracts, and even temporary employees and freelancers). As a result, the startup simplifies the recruitment and employee management process considerably by freeing up HR departments, which are no longer lumbered with time-consuming administrative tasks, as well as optimizing the way in which applicants are matched with recruiters through the use of smart algorithms.
With a pool of 43,000 candidates, Maqqie currently has around 3,000 companies using its service. In fact, the Dutch startup has grown significantly, with a turnover of EUR 30 million in 2021, a figure that almost doubled in 2022. For Pieter Jacob Leenman, Founder and CEO of Maqqie, the reason behind the company's success is simple: "Today's recruitment platforms are limited to simply matching applicants and recruiters. Because we're confident the job market is going to change dramatically, we're taking this several steps further. In ten years' time, hiring people through a specific company will be a thing of the past. Instead, they'll be recruited using technology platforms like ours, which—just like temporary employment agencies back in the day—will manage the process for the company from start to finish, offering them the best possible candidate."
Convinced the revolution won't be coming from the existing market, Pieter Jacob Leenman has big ambitions for his company. Right off the bat, he sought the means to realize his vision by choosing Google Cloud. "I was looking for a solution that would both transform my business vision into concrete technological processes and offer great flexibility so it could be easily scaled up to support Maqqie's expansion. Google Cloud has given us a wealth of technology, innovation and security, not to mention scalability," he explains.
Implemented by the provider and Google Cloud Partner Rappit, Maqqie's platform is especially rigorous when it comes to security, since it stores applicants' personal data. Based on the secure-by-design principles recommended by Google Cloud and the company's commitment to complying with existing data protection legislation, Rappit's solution is highly secure, resilient, and in line with Dutch regulations.
To ensure Maqqie can sustain its growth from a technological standpoint, Rappit opted for a highly scalable architecture with fully automated scalability as required. By harnessing the full potential of IaC (Infrastructure-as-Code) and Google Cloud's managed services, the platform uses containerization operated by GKE and implemented by Google Cloud Kubernetes, together with the Cloud Functions serverless (FaaS) environment.
Maqqie therefore has all the flexibility it needs to be able to acquire new customers, integrate new features, and even expand internationally in the near future. This approach also comes with economic advantages. Constrained as all startups are by limited budgets, Maqqie only pays for the infrastructure resources it really needs at each stage of its development. This means the company can concentrate its efforts on aspects that truly add value, namely its core business.
"The partnership and core services provided by Rappit using Google Cloud have played a key role in our growth and have enabled us to become the second-fastest-growing technology startup in the Netherlands according to Deloitte Fast 50," explains Pieter Jacob Leenman.
To stand out in the recruitment platform market, Maqqie also takes full advantage of all the data it has at its disposal. The startup uses this data to ensure its customers can find the candidate who best meets their needs with the help of algorithms that have been specially developed in-house and enhanced using AI. It also uses data to optimize the company's management and come up with new services based on analysis designed to identify market needs and trends. More globally, Maqqie is a data-driven company that centralizes all its internal and external data (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Ads, and others) in BigQuery so it can better analyze the needs of its clients and take full advantage of every opportunity to grow.
Developed using Looker Studio, the dashboards display all of the company's internal analytics, equipping employees with the information they need to make the best decisions. As an expert in AI and ML, Rappit also created models to match supply with demand by drawing on the wealth of managed services Google Cloud has to offer. These complex models take into account the skills of the applicants, the distance between their home and the workplace, their working hours, salary, and more, and pinpoint the candidate who best meets the expectations of the recruiting company from Maqqie's pool of 43,000 profiles.
To enable Maqqie's developers to rapidly gain autonomy when designing models, Rappit made the decision in 2017 to use BigQuery ML, a solution designed to generate and run ML models using Cloud SQL requests. "AI and ML expertise is all too rare in this market, and it is expensive as a result," explains Ardjan Baan, CEO of Rappit. "By leveraging Rappit's data engineering services and Google’s leading BigQuery and BigQuery ML technology, we were able to successfully integrate and analyze data from multiple sources, driving increased revenue and retention with new offerings to Maqqie's users."
Today, Maqqie also harnesses Vertex AI and its pretrained models to further enhance its platform and break new ground in the context of a rapidly changing job market.
"With a whole host of managed services, the Google Cloud data platform gives Maqqie a competitive edge when it comes to agility: it sometimes takes just a week to develop and implement a new analysis solution," explains Ardjan Baan.
"Google Cloud offers us not only scalability, security, and resilience, but also all the tools we need to support Maqqie's growth. Furthermore, more importantly, the versatility and wide-ranging functionality of Google Cloud has allowed us to transform our vision of tomorrow's job market into an open and scalable technical solution, capable of helping us take on any challenges posed by an ever-changing market," concludes Pieter Jacob Leenman.
Founded in 2017, Maqqie has grown rapidly within the market of HR platforms thanks to its unique positioning. Building a fully digital platform for tomorrow’s job market, supporting any working relationship, including finding, contracting, scheduling, and paying employees in one online solution. Applying any contract, any payment term, and any CLA. Today, the Dutch company has around 60 employees and a turnover of approximately EUR 60 million.
Industry: Technology
Location: The Netherlands
Products: Google Cloud, BigQuery, BigQuery ML, Cloud Functions, Cloud SQL, Google Kubernetes Engine, Looker Studio, Vertex AI
About Google Cloud Partner - Rappit
Rappit is a leading independent software provider and Google Cloud partner that specializes in modernizing Enterprise Software.