SmartRecruiters announced it closed a $110 million Series E round led by Silver Lake Waterman, with participation from existing investors Insight Partners, and Mayfield Fund. The new capital brings the company’s total amount raised to $205 million, with a valuation of $1.5 billion.

“As the job market becomes more fluid and dynamic, companies need a competitive advantage when it comes to accessing the best talent,” said Jerome Ternynck, CEO and Founder, SmartRecruiters. “Never before has business success been so dependent on hiring success. When you have the right recruiting platform and the right people, you achieve business success.”

This financing round comes on the heels of strong momentum for SmartRecruiters. In the last 12 months, the company added 200+ enterprise customers, grew revenue 50%, and experienced 70%  bookings growth. SmartRecruiters was also recognized as a differentiated leader in enterprise talent acquisition by IDC and as a high performance, high potential category leader by Fosway.

In addition, the industry is seeing record investments in the sector. SmartRecruiters isn't the first unicorn in the space, and joins firms such as Eightfold, Beamery, Phenom, and others. The VC and PE worlds are looking closely at potential returns across the industry.

George LaRocque, founder of WorkTech, recently sat down with Ternynck in an exclusive interview (shared here with permission) to talk about the funding, and how the pandemic finally forced executives across industry to start listening to what their TA leaders have been saying for years: recruiting is strategic, and the teams with both the best strategies as well as the best tools win.