US-based Handshake, a career network helping millions of students from all backgrounds get hired and launch their careers, raised US$ 80 million in a venture financing round on 12 May 2021. The total investment in the company is now US$ 235.5 million and its valuation has risen to US$ 1.5 billion.
Investors: The Series E round was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Spark Capital with participation from existing investors and new investors Coatue Management and Valiant Peregrine Fund.
About Handshake
Founded in 2013 by Ben Christensen, Garrett Lord and Scott Ringwelski, Handshake is the largest early career network, which is helping millions of students from all backgrounds to get hired and launch their careers with no connections, experience required. Handshake claims that its community includes 18 million students and young alumni from 1,200 educational institutions and 120+ minority-serving institutions. The startup is headquartered in San Francisco and has offices in Denver and London, UK.
The Handshake platform connects talent from across 50 states with 550,000+ employers recruiting on Handshake. It has companies from the Fortune 500 company, small businesses, nonprofits, startups and more. Handshake is facing increasing growth and rapidly expanding market opportunity to help employers and universities in recruitment and hiring.
What the CEO has to say: “The way to change the way the workforce looks in the future is to focus on early career talent now. Our mission of providing equal opportunity to all students regardless of their background or who they know, has only grown in importance and we’re both proud and privileged to be in a place where we can not only surface actionable insights to employers around the diversity hiring practices but also work with them to make meaningful change in driving social mobility.” — Garrett Lord, co-founder and CEO of Handshake.
What the investors have to say: “Since leading Handshake’s Series B in 2016, we’ve been thrilled to watch the company become the clear number one way for students to find internships and jobs, and there is still so much opportunity ahead. Doubling down on our investment five years later underscores our belief that Handshake will not only help students build the skills and relationships they need to get their first job, but also expand into the US$100B+ market of helping professionals advance their careers with second, third, and fourth jobs over time.” — Will Reed, General Partner at Spark Capital.
We try our best to fact check and bring the best, well-researched and non-plagiarized content to you. Please let us know
-if there are any discrepancies in any of our published stories,
-how we can improve,
-what stories you would like us to cover and what information you are looking for, in the comments section below or through our contact form! We look forward to your feedback and thank you for stopping by!
Next article – here.
