Xing, Triplebyte, and lots of money: news of the recruitment marketing industry

April 16, 2019
JobBoardDoctor
0 Comments

Funding has picked up again (see bullet #1, below), and some major players like Xing and Google are making some major moves. As you’ll see, activity is present around the globe – demonstrating once again that our industry is truly global in nature. Without further ado….

Triplebyte raises big bucks: Triplebyte, which offers personalised online coding tests and subsequent technical interviews to help screen candidates for prospective employers, announced that it raised a Series B of $35 million. Triplebyte is not disclosing its valuation with this round — it has raised $50 million to date — but CEO Harj Taggar hinted that it is in the “hundred million multiples towards being a unicorn.” Very impressive.
Kormo moves into Indonesia: Bangladeshi job portal Kormo has expanded into Indonesia. Kormo is an informal sector job marketplace which was introduced at Google Area 120, a Google workshop for experimental projects. The site is specifically developed to connect jobseekers with informal sector employers. In an interesting twist, Kormo provides learning modules in the form of videos and articles, and applicants earn a badge every time they manage to complete a module. Great idea.
LinkedIn becomes a sign-making machine: LinkedIn announced the ability for brick-and-mortar businesses to print out a Help Wanted sign to place in a storefront window or put on a tabletop promotion. For brick-and-mortar business owners, the signage allows candidates passing by to apply for a job by scanning a QR code or going to the short link on the sign. Is this a good idea, or a dumb one?
Indeed partners with Nine: Nine and Indeed announced a major partnership which will see the global job site leverage the audience of major titles, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and The Australian Financial Review. The partnership will also include a branded content series, a dedicated jobs forecast distributed through Nine’s mastheads, and a weekly sponsored Ask the Expert section in My Career. Kinda reminds me of Careerbuilder’s old deals.
Xing gets busy: Xing SE, a career network in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (DACH), bought the IT jobs site Honeypot. In a press release Xing announced that it paid €22 million ($24.7 million U.S) for the Berlin based startup that runs a niche job platform for IT specialists in the DACH region. In another move that signals its expansion plans, the company renamed itself to ‘New Work’. Xing said that it plans to rebrand in the second half of 2019, bringing together a number of other assets it has acquired and built over the years. Very interesting.
JobAndTalent revenues are up: Recruitment app turned digital blue-collar employment agency JobAndTalent.com has more than doubled its annual turnover. The company had gross revenues of €136 million ($154.4 million U.S.) in 2018 versus €49 million ($55.6 million U.S.) in 2017. Initially an algorithm-driven recruitment site with a focus on graduate jobs, it morphed into a blue-collar app, before finally shifting to its current transactional model where the site acts as a digital temp agency. Impressive.
Jitjatjo lands funding: Jitjatjo, a mobile staffing marketplace that leverages AI to match hospitality operators with vetted industry professionals, announced that the company has raised $11 million in Series A funding led by Morningside Technology Ventures. Since launching in 2016 with an initial focus on New York City’s hospitality sector, Jitjatjo’s revenue has increased in excess of 250% year-over-year in the company’s initial launch market; the company has recently expanded to Chicago. Coming to a city near you?
Google’s job search engine adds features: Google has added two enhancements to its Cloud Talent Solution: the search tool now translates up to 100 languages; and it is also adding more detailed commute information into job searches. The candidate can filter the results by type of transportation – walking, biking, driving or public transit. Results are displayed on a Google Map with pins showing where the resulting jobs are. Cool.
Carriere.nu launches in the Netherlands: The publisher Vakmedianet, which has a portfolio of 53 niche publications, has launched a labor market hub, Carriere.nu. The site covers all niches and also allows employers to target specific sub-groups of candidates. Interesting.
Upwork starts charging freelancers: Upwork has announced that it will begin charging freelancers to bid on jobs. Freelancers on the Upwork platform use virtual tokens called “Connects” to submit proposals for posted jobs. They previously received 60 free Connects each month but starting in May, Connects will cost 15 cents each. Freelancers need between one and six Connects to submit a proposal for most job posts; those submitted in response to invitations from clients will continue to be free. Upwork expects that that the change will result in freelancers and agencies submitting fewer proposals and focusing on job posts they’re most qualified for and most likely to win. Sounds like a quality control issue to me.