Recruitment startup Belong, which helps companies hire people using advanced technology such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), is in advanced discussion to raise $10-12 million Series C round from London-based venture capital firm Unbound and Matrix Venture Partners.
According to three Entrackr sources, the discussion for the transaction has been going on for the past couple of months. “Contours of the deal has been finalised, and if nothing goes wrong from here then the round will be announced next month,” said sources on condition of anonymity.
The fresh funding will come for the Bengaluru-based firm after 32 months of its Series B round. It raised about $10 million from Sequoia Capital and Matrix Partners in February 2017. “If Sequoia participates in the round with sizeable cheque, the round may go up to $15 million,” added sources.
Sources aren’t aware of the participation of Sequoia in the deal.
For the unaware, Belong helps organisations discover, engage and hire relevant talent. According to the company, its data-driven solution helps to spot candidates who best fit their requirements and are most inclined to move, and engage with them via personalised interactions.
The company has two products ‘Belong Hire’ and ‘Belong expert’. The first is hiring solution for enterprise while the other helps job seekers to find jobs. The company has several hundred clients, including Uber, Cisco, Ola, BigBasket, Adobe and Myntra and others.
Belong had also raised capital from Blume Ventures and several top-notch angels including Girish Matrubootham, Phanindra Sama, Raju Reddy, Rohit Bansal and Kunal Bahl.
Sources also emphasise that the company would be valued about $70 million in the fresh financing round. Entrackr queries sent to Sequoia, Unbound, Matrix and Vijay Sharma, Co-founder and CEO of Belong didn’t elicit any immediate response.
We will update the post as and when they respond.
The fresh financing round is coming at a time when the recruitment centred startups have not been very attractive for the venture capitalists. Although, the segment just recorded a new deal where Sequoia had put $15 million in Darwinbox. At present, over a dozen startups are operating in the segment. Belong competes with Darwinbox and Hacker Earth amongst others.
