INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Contract, self-employed and temporary jobs are on the rise in developed markets, with some 85% of the global workforce, 2.7 billion people,
estimated to be on some form of hourly wage rather than flat salary.Today, a startup that helps companies source these kinds of candidates
is announcing a round of funding to help meet that demand
it provides to its customers and its geographical footprint.Fountain already has some scale: The company currently sources and processes
more than 1 million inbound candidate applications each month, filling some 150,000 jobs in the process, CEO and founder Keith Ryu said in
an interview.In addition to building engines to source candidates through a number of channels, such as traditional job boards, social media
providers for this part), communicating with the candidate, handling the paperwork and, finally, onboarding.Led by DCM, this latest round
also included a potentially strategic backer, the Chinese recruitment site 51job, as well as Origin Ventures, Uncork Capital and others that
This brings the total raised by Fountain, which previously was called OnboardIQ and had been incubated in Y Combinator, to $34
First, ridesharing companies like Uber, delivery startups like Postmates and home services providers like Thumbtack all function by virtue
The second big category that Fountain taps for business is the wider pool of retail and food industry businesses that have long relied on
of demand for recruiting gig economy workers
In the years since then, and especially in recent times, demands have moved away for these companies from aggressive expansion (bringing on,
for example, lots of new drivers), and into more profitable operations
Ryu said that the knock-on effect for Fountain has not been a reduction, but a change, in terms of the services required, with some
companies opting to outsource, whereas in the past they might have handled recruitment in-house
also seeing Fountain change up its own strategy to make more of an effort to target more traditional businesses that are based around hourly
disclosing its valuation with this round
In its last round, back in 2017, it had a very modest $40 million price on it, although given its growth since then (it had sourced 5
million candidates in two years in 2017; now it sources 1 million each month) this is likely to be significantly higher.
