Diversity hiring startup SeekOut becomes a unicorn

It is a well-known fact that having more diverse teams is good for business.

Despite knowing it is important – particularly amid the ‘Great Resignation’ – a lot of companies struggle to actually find and recruit diverse employees.

This is where HR tech, like Seattle-based SeekOut, can really help. Just six years since its foundation by four ex-Microsoft workers, SeekOut is now a unicorn after raising $115 million in a Series C round. This round brings the company’s total funding since 2016 to $189 million and brings it value to $1.2 billion.

The Series C round was led by Tiger Global Management. Founders Circle Capital, Madrona Venture Group, and Mayfield also participated in the round, according to a blog post by CEO Anoop Gupta.

A future of innovation

The unicorn status comes on the back of a stellar year for SeekOut where it doubled its customer base to 1,000, which include six in ten of the most valuable companies in the US. SeekOut also grew its revenue by 300% in 2021.

This makes sense given that “diversity remains critical to hiring, retention, and building companies people want to work for. People care about working at a company that’s reflective of the world,” according to Gupta.

He continues: “Building diversity into all elements of your talent strategy should be a sustainable, long-term solution for recruitment and retention.”

SeekOut helps companies do this through its Talent360 platform, which allows them to tap into its database of candidate profiles using artificial intelligence (AI) and deep analytics.

Now the company plans to use this funding to double down on innovating Talent360, and particularly the talent optimization (rather than sourcing) element of the platform.

Gupta wrote: “We will accelerate delivering our vision for Enterprise Talent Optimization, with new solutions in employee retention, internal mobility, and career development.”

He continued: “It’s a system that HR teams have been sorely lacking: a data-rich and data-informed way for HR and business leaders to have a comprehensive 360-degree view of internal employees and external talent, with analytics, predictive insights, and actionable recommendations. Leveraging this platform provides a competitive advantage in recruiting, retaining, and developing their talent base.”

Talking about the round, Tiger Global Management partner John Curtius said: “It’s an exciting time to be in the people technology space as there’s a clear shift in the way companies are thinking about hiring and retaining talent.

“SeekOut is at the forefront of this change, delivering a best-in-class solution for talent optimization that enables businesses to hire, grow and retain their workforce like never before.

“We are excited to partner with them as they continue to reshape the industry and provide companies with data, insights, and actions that drive results.”