Scout Exchange Secures $100 Million in Funding

March 20, 2018 – Investment dollars continue to pour into new technology designed to change the talent management industry. The latest: Scout Exchange, a recruitment marketplace connecting employers with specialized recruiters, has received $100 million in funding from TRI Ventures, the investment vehicle of recruiting industry veteran John Chuang.

The funding will accelerate growth of Scout’s recruitment marketplace, which has been adopted by hundreds of employers including 50 Fortune 500 companies and thousands of specialty recruiters.

“We’re proud of the incredible recruiting results our customers have been able to achieve with Scout, and we’re excited to fulfill our vision of bringing marketplace recruiting to employers and search firms everywhere,” said Ken Lazarus, CEO of Scout Exchange. “Having built his fortune by successfully anticipating and capitalizing on future trends in recruiting, John is the ideal investor for us and it’s an honor to have his support and strategic guidance.”

Scout’s performance matching algorithms connect recruiters to marketplace jobs in their area of expertise. Using machine learning technology, Scout analyzes the unstructured text of employer job descriptions and applies predictive analytics to determine which search firm recruiters are most likely to successfully fill each requisition, based on past performance by job type. Scout also provides complimentary search firm vendor management, single-stream invoicing and comprehensive reporting and analytics.

“Talent acquisition is more imperative for today’s businesses than ever before,” said John Chuang, CEO of TRI Ventures. “While technology has streamlined many HR processes, corporate recruiting is still more difficult and time consuming than it should be, presenting real opportunity to disrupt the $500 billion global recruiting market. By combining intelligent software with the proven efficiencies from B2B marketplaces, Scout is pushing the limits of what’s possible to create a new category of recruiting that’s much more efficient and effective than traditional approaches.”

Mr. Chuang backs entrepreneurs building market-transforming consumer and enterprise technology companies. He was one of the earliest investors in Angie’s List. More recently, his investments have focused on innovative companies in the HR tech space. Mr. Chuang previously founded Aquent, which has grown to become the world’s largest creative staffing agency, for which he currently serves as chairman.

Investment Funding

Other investors are also pouring money into HR recruiting solutions. Here’s a look at some recent funding deals secured by these companies from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:

Reflektive, an HR analytics and employee engagement platform, has raised $60 million in Series C funding. The company says it will use the cash infusion to invest in research and development to help grow its cloud-based platform of people management solutions. It also plans to double its engineering team and expand strategies worldwide, with a focus on customer success.

ENGAGE Talent, an AI software company that helps companies identify and effectively engage with passive candidates, has raised $3 million in new funding. Participating investors included Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Refinery Ventures and Grand Ventures. 

Joveo, a recruitment technology platform, raised $5 million in Series A funding led by Nexus Venture Partners. The start-up intends to use the cash infusion to continue to accelerate its product offerings, expand its partnerships and scale its AI/deep-learning layer. Apart from the funding announcement, Joveo also made public its acquisition of Ripple Labs.

New York-based human cloud firm Hyr raised $1.3 million in a seed funding round led by venture capital firm Flybridge Capital Partners, according to media reports. Hyr, which matches gig workers with hospitality companies, has boarded more than 10,000 workers since it started last year. The company is led by Erika Mozes and Joshua Karam.

ExecThread, a job-sharing network for executives and an aggregator of unpublished executive level job opportunities, has secured $6.5 million in an oversubscribed equity financing. ExecThread was created by CEO Joe Meyer to address shortcomings in the traditional executive search process that he says he witnessed as both a candidate and as a hiring manager. 

Personio, the German HR management and recruiting platform, has raised $12 million (€10.5 million) in a series A round from investor Northzone. With the influx of new money, Personio is looking to push its software-as-a-service (SaaS) product in an effort to become the leader in the human resources software market for small and mid-sized companies across Europe.

Workey, the next-gen AI solution for career development and recruitment, has launched in the U.S. after closing an $8 million Series “A” funding round, led by PICO Partners and Magma VC. The funding was immediately put to use, with Workey opening an office in New York City and hiring for that location already underway.

YouEarnedIt, an SaaS company that is attempting to alter how companies drive employee engagement and bottom line performance metrics, recently closed $6.5 million in funding. YouEarnedIt can consolidate employee engagement initiatives into one, easy to use mobile platform.

Talent acquisition platform SmartRecruiters recently raised $30 million in series C financing, led by Insight Venture Partners. The company plans to leverage the additional capital to sustain its rapid growth, accelerate its global market presence, and continue to invest in its product footprint to serve the needs of the more than 5,000 enterprise companies.

Glassdoor, the job and recruiting marketplace, closed a $40 million investment round recently, led by funds and accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Associates. The financing will support Glassdoor’s continued growth and investments in product, marketing and people around the globe, according to internal sources at the company.

Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Andrew W. Mitchell, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media