BraveNewTalent.com, the social recruiting platform, has secured an undisclosed amount of venture capital funding from Northzone Ventures and two experienced angels – Pierce Casey and Mike Bourne.
Northzone is one of Europe’s leading venture funds and was the first investor in companies such as Spotify, Lastminute.com and Stepstone. As part of the investment, Bjorn Stray, Co-Founder & Partner at Northzone will be joining the BraveNewTalent board. Bjorn is one of Europe’s most experienced venture capitalists in the online recruitment sector having sat on the board of Stepstone between 1996 and 2009, and spent the first three years as Chairman. Bjorn is in a strong position to assist BraveNewTalent with its next stage of international development.
Commenting on the investment Bjorn said, “The evolution of online recruitment from the job board model to a social recruiting model is something I have expected for some time. I have considered many opportunities both from Stepstone's perspective and Northzone’s perspective, but BraveNewTalent is the first one I felt had real potential to change the industry. It is our aim to fully deliver value to employers and jobseekers, and in doing so develop BraveNewTalent into a billion dollar market leader.”
On top of Northzone’s unique experience, BraveNewTalent welcomes Pierce Casey and Mike Bourne as angels. Pierce Casey is a serial private investor in the recruitment sector, was co-founder of Walker Hamill and Imprint PLC and is currently Chairman of Norman Broadbent. In addition he is an experienced Private Equity specialist having been Director of Apax Partners and Alchemy Venture Partners. Pierce commented: “From my experience in the recruitment sector it is clear that Global HR Directors are seeking a social media tool that is now being offered by BraveNewTalent.”
The company has successfully created talent communities for employers from a wide range of sectors. Among its clients are global brands such as IBM, Tesco, L’Oreal and McAfee. Lucian Tarnowski, BraveNewTalent’s Founder & CEO commented: “This venture investment allows us to pursue the global social recruiting opportunity. Our mission is to change the face of recruitment and online education and map the global talent market. With new investors who have many years of experience in this sector we can now fully develop our product and drive the message home that social recruiting should be part of every employer's recruiting strategy. We also plan to hire some great talent along the way!”
This new round of funding will be used to further develop the BraveNewTalent platform, allowing employers to build, engage, recruit and train talent communities. In order to support this development, the company plans to make a number of senior level and strategic hires to oversee this new growth phase. BraveNewTalent will now also begin to expand its operating base internationally as it rolls out global social recruiting services for its clients.
