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UPDATED 11:00 EDT / OCTOBER 29 2019

CLOUD

Gig economy cloud recruitment startup Fountain raises $23M

Cloud recruiting platform startup Fountain today said it has raised $23 million in new funding to invest in research and development and accelerate product development.

The Series B round into the company, formally known as Onboard IQ Inc., was led by DCM and included 51job, Origin Ventures, Uncork Capital and others. As part of the deal, DCM co-founder David Chao will join Fountain’s board and DMC partner Kyle Lui will join as a board observer.

Founded in 2014, Fountain pitches itself as the “leading talent platform for the hourly workforce.” The company recruits “gig economy” on-demand staff for retail, restaurant, delivery and hospitality companies. Notable among its clients is Uber Technologies Inc., Deliveroo, Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A, Lime and Safeway Inc.

Fountain offers a platform that matches gig economy works to companies looking for on-demand workers. Using a single dashboard, companies can perform screening functions, send text messages to potential workers and, once workers are employed, manage them as well. The company’s platform also supports video, providing the ability for candidates to record video interviews that are said to be “helpful for assessing communication skills in both how they speak and make eye contact.”

“It’s clear the way people work is changing, but the processes companies use to hire hourly workers aren’t,” Keith Ryu, chief executive officer and co-founder of Fountain, said in a statement. “Recruiting workers from this group is fundamentally different than recruiting for your corporate roles. 90% of this population aren’t on LinkedIn and 40% are unresponsive after completing an application. Many of these employees are holding down two or three jobs and need an easy, automated and mobile way to apply and interview for a new job.”

The company processes more than 1 million applications to fill 150,000 hourly and gig positions every month for its clients.

Including the new funding, Fountain has raised $34 million to date. Previous investors include Y Combinator, Rough Draft Ventures, Winklevoss Capital, Salesforce Ventures and Crosslink Capital.

Image: Fountain

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