Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Workpop Raises $7.9M To Connect Job Seekers, Employers
Los Angele-sbased Workpop, a new startup founded by former Zynga executive Reed Shaffner and Viddy Co-Founder Chris Ovitz said this morning that it has raised $7.9M in a funding round. The startup is creating an online marketplace and community which seeks to help connect employers and job seekers. The new funding came from Trinity Ventures, and also included SV Angel, Evan Williams and Biz Stone's Obvious Ventures, Cornerstone OnDemand, Joe Lonsdale, Aaron Levie, Slow Ventures, Box Group, Ironfire Capital, Plus Capital, Lee Linden (Facebook), Jim Pallotta, Dennis Phelps (IVP) and Michael Marchetti.
Unlike other job sites, Shaffner and Ovitz say that their startup is focused not on churning out job postings, but helping companies find and retain the best employees; the company also is looking to aim at the broader market, as opposed to the tech-savvy, Silicon Valley centric job startups. The company is initially concentrating on Los Angeles. The two are applying their deep consumer and gaming experience to create a user-friendly and employer-friendly site, with such features as collecting video cover letters; consolidating resumes into a common format for hiring managers; anonymous feedback to job seekers to help them figure out why they might not have been attractive to an employer; and much more.