George LaRocque, Founder and Principal Analyst at WorkTech, brings his perspective and updates on interesting TA tech investments from around the globe.
Careerist raised a $1.25 million Seed round of VC for its marketplace that provides training for software training and QA roles, career coaching, and job board in exchange for a percentage of the salary of any jobs found via the service.
Merging education with jobs and career services isn’t a new model, neither is charging placed candidates a percentage of salary. The amount being charged and the placement success rate make this model either a vehicle/accelerant to a tech career for those who need it or something more predatory.
Where Careerist looks like a service, other similar offerings like The Make School offer certified degree programs and internships, with curriculum influenced by tech firms.
Keep an eye on this space. We expect to see more hybrid learning/recruiting models emerging.
In 2020, $5 billion was invested globally in HR technology. Talent acquisition tech providers received $939 million and learning tech providers saw $666 million. A full report on the 2020 global HR technology investment is available, here.
Source: Careerist Raises $1.25M in Seed Funding
UK-based Playter announced a USD $1.4 million Seed round of VC to finance employment agency fees for small businesses. Yes, you read that correctly. The model is straight forward, the small business that hires from an employment agency pays the agency fee 2% fees to Playter over six months but Playter pays the employment agency upon invoice.
I get how hard hiring is, especially for a small business. But, we have to say it – negotiate terms with your employment agencies, and if you can’t get good payment terms or can’t afford to look at funding or banking for your business that encompasses more than just agency fees, may be you shouldn’t be hiring. Better yet, in this economy and job market get creative with your recruiting and ad strategy – consider freelancers or contractors – students – consider ways to reach out to underserved communities for talent that’s been overlooked.
Do we need another party in the middle? I’d rather see you pay that additional 2% to your employees in compensation or benefits.
Source: We’ve just raised £1million 🚀🚀🚀 – Playter
WizeHire announced a $7.5 million Series A round of VC for its SMB-focused applicant tracking system (ATS). For $199 per month or just under $2,000 per year, employers can create an unlimited number of jobs, have them “optimized” by WizeHire’s team of “hiring strategists,” and post them to job boards. The site includes integrated DISC personality assessments, screening questions, candidate matching based on DISC profiles, and hiring workflow tracking. Expanding beyond two users, adding geographical markets to hire from, and posting to “premium job boards” are all “upsells” that increase the monthly or annual fees.
Investment in talent acquisition was slow through 2020, attracting only $940 million in global VC investment. Get the full report, here.
NextStep raised additional VC funding of $2.5 million bringing its total raised to approximately $12.3 million. Several new startups have emerged that aim to connect a pipeline of certified students with a targeted curriculum with employers in need of the resulting skills. In this case, NextStep is connecting aspiring CNAs with healthcare employers. The company reports that students receive the training/education free, all fees are supported by employers.
$5 billion was invested in HR technology globally in 2020.
Source: NextStep Raises $2.5M in Funding | FinSMEs
Landed raised $1.4 million seed round for its job board marketplace focused on hourly hiring. Reportedly powered by video interviews and AI, the site tells TechCrunch that it matches candidates against traits like body language and communication skills. That kind of Video to AI-based assessment didn’t work out too well for HireVue, who faced a federal complaint for “unfair and deceptive” practices. HireVue announced that it was moving away from these assessments amid their AI algorithm audit.
Landed enters a crowded job board and matching space that has been hit hard by the global pandemic and economic slowdown. Along with impact in the field, this category saw a lower amount of investment in 2020 than we had seen in years, attracting $483 million in 2020, compared to investments of $1.1 billion in 2019.
Source: Hourly job-matching startup Landed raises $1.4M | TechCrunch
Workstep announced $17.2 million in funding for its job board marketplace, hiring, and retention platforms. A combination of Seed and A round venture capital investment.
Workstep, founded in 2017, represents the culmination of several trends WorkTech has called attention to in the global HR technology market:
Modern Job Board Marketplaces: Workstep claims to not only focus on a niche (industrial and supply chain), but also reports to help workers gain and increase skills to enter this market. The merge of skills training and a job board marketplace is a trend we’ve watched emerge since 2018 with increasing success.
Find, match and hire: Report to offer matching, screening, and hiring workflow automation, Workstep extends the sourcing of candidates with a skills profile to the entire hiring process.
Retention: Post-hire mobile apps that cover onboarding, safety, and employee engagement. Providing some capabilities that help deliver a better employee experience and insurance for the ROI on the cost of hiring and time to get to productivity.
While VC investment in job boards was down in 2020 due to the pandemic, we expect to see more interesting models like this one emerge.
Keep your eye on Workstep and look out for more platforms connecting hiring into talent management and engagement.
Source: WorkStep Raises $17 Million to Make the Supply Chain a Better Place to Work
Switzerland-based Nexthink announced a USD $180 Million D round of venture capital, bringing its total raised to $345 million. They also announced a valuation of $1.1 billion, giving them “unicorn” status. Nexthink gives companies insight into employees’ daily experiences with technology at the device level and gives a company the ability to collect and track employee sentiment and broadcast real-time communications.
As work continues to shift to more distributed and remote models, Nexthink is a good example of the new partnership between IT and HR aligned through employee productivity and communications. As more of the employee experience is delivered digitally, these departments are increasingly reliant on each other to deliver an improved employee experience.
$5 billion was invested in HR technology globally in 2020.