Funding rounds were announced by Gloat, which connects employees to internal jobs; Sense, a talent engagement platform; Candidate.co, a referral provider; and Thumbtack, a B2C talent platform.
Gloat
A $57 million series C funding round was announced today by Gloat, an artificial intelligence-powered software offering that enables companies to connect their own employees with new opportunities within their organizations.
The money will go toward accelerating product innovation and market expansion. The series C round was led by Accel, a Palo Alto, California-based venture capital and private equity firm. It also had participation from existing investors Eight Roads Ventures, Intel Capital, Magma Venture Partners and Pico Partners.
Today’s round brings total funding at Gloat to $92 million.
“As companies are adapting their workforces to be more flexible and take advantage of remote workers, new tools are needed to optimize productivity and ensure equality of opportunities,” said Philippe Botteri, partner at Accel. “Gloat pioneered the talent marketplace to solve that, and it’s now becoming a strategic tool for global enterprises.”
New York-based Gloat was founded in 2015 by Ben Reuveni, Amichai Schreiber and Danny Shteinberg. Customers include Unilever, Schneider Electric, Seagate, Novartis and MetLife.
Sense
Sense, an AI-powered platform for talent engagement and communication, also announced a $16 million series C funding round. It brings total funding at San Francisco-based Sense to $40 million. Examples of Sense’s services include a chatbot and a texting platform.
“Our mission to help companies find the right candidates, fast, is even more critical now during a time when nearly every industry is facing challenges around attracting candidates efficiently — from engagement to retention,” Sense co-founder and CEO Anil Dharni said.
Key investors in the series C round include Avataar Venture Partners, an India-based growth-stage investor, with additional participation from previous investors including Accel and GV.
Avataar Venture Partners’ Nishant Rao is joining Sense’s board. Rao’s past experience includes serving as COO of Freshworks and managing director of LinkedIn SE Asia.
“The macro-shift to contingent labor and gig economy has already grown 10 times over the past decade and yet we’ve only just begun scratching the surface,” Rao said. “I believe our investments in new products will allow Sense to go from a robust system of engagement to a truly distinctive network/platform play for the future.”
Sense reported it serves more than 400 customers, including Amazon.com and Kelly Services inc.
Candidate.co
Candidate.co announced a $4 million seed funding round. The Seattle-based company’s business works to allow people to refer those in their networks for jobs and receive between $2,400 and $6,000 for successful matches. For companies, Candidate.co says it enables them to build a network of referrers outside of their own employees and alumni.
The seed funding round was led by Voyager Capital with participation from Positive Sum, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed fund, Ascend, BAM Ventures and Vulcan.
“Candidate.co was founded with a simple vision: connect employers and potential employees by tapping into powerful relationships,” Candidate.co CEO Ryan Agresta said.
Thumbtack
Thumbtack, a B2C talent platform, announced a $275 million investment. The deal gives the San Francisco-based company a valuation of $3.2 billion.
Thumbtack connects home repair workers with homeowners. It said the funding round will go toward accelerating growth innovation and adoption.
“We want instant, on demand everything, but when it comes to fixing, maintaining and improving our homes that experience doesn’t exist,” co-founder and CEO Marco Zappacosta said. “Thumbtack has an incredible opportunity to bring the $500 billion home services market into the 21st century.”
The funding round was led by Qatar Investment Authority and joined by Blackstone Alternative Asset Management as well as G Squared. Prior investors also took part.
Thumbtack noted its revenue had grown by more than 50% in the last 12 months and reported it’s on track to generate more than $2 billion this year for workers on its platform.
It also noted that nearly 90% of customers receive a response from a service provider that they choose.