Outbound hiring SaaS solution Belong raises $10M in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital
SaaS-based predictive outbound hiring platform, Belong, has raised $10 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital India, with participation from existing investor Matrix Partners India.
Belong claims to have have doubled its number of mid-market and enterprise customers, and a 411% year-on-year increase in the number of offers generated via its platform, since its Series A funding in June 2015.
The company said it will use the Series B funding to accelerate product development, expand sales and support operations, and hire new talent across engineering, data science, enterprise sales and customer success.
Gautam Mago, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors, has joined the Belong Board of Directors, which includes Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, and Raju Reddy, Founder and ex-CEO of Sierra Atlantic.
The Bangalore based startup that was launched in 2014, by BITS Pilani alumnus Vijay Sharma and Sudheendra Chilappagari, also announced the launch of Belong Experts, a platform-based solution that connects employers to a verified network of independent talent experts for start-to-finish hiring support.
Tarun Davda, Belong Board Member and Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, said:
“From our seed investment in 2014 to the launch of Belong Experts platform today, the company has come a long way. Matrix Partners India is privileged to be Vijay and Sudheendra’s early partner in this journey and we welcome Sequoia India to the Belong partnership.”According to the startup, it tries to solve the problem of diminishing returns on inbound hiring with top talent today no longer “applying” into jobs. It focuses on outbound hiring solutions using machine intelligence to help recruiters target relevant candidates open to pursuing new opportunities. It claims that its Engagement solution enables recruiters to convert target candidates into interested candidates with 3X more efficiency than traditional platforms. “Talented candidates today are overwhelmed by the ‘spray-and-pray’ tactics of traditional recruiting. Not only does it annoy them, but it also leads to poor engagement and conversions for recruiters,” said Vijay Sharma, CEO and Co-founder of Belong.
“With Belong, hiring efforts can be highly targeted and personalized to generate win-win conversations where the company’s offering and the candidate’s needs are truly aligned. This is a vision for the future of recruiting, and we are thrilled to have Gautam and Sequoia India on this journey with us.”Belong claims to have companies like Cisco, Amazon, UHG, Tesco, Reliance Jio and ThoughtWorks on its clients’ list.