BountyJobs raises $12M more for its headhunting marketplace

July 8, 2008 | Anthony Ha | Comments |

BountyJobs, a site that connects employers and headhunters, has raised an additional $12 million in financing. The company’s big selling point appears to be the ease with which it allows employers to communicate with and monitor recruiters.

VentureBeat Editor Matt Marshall mentioned BountyJobs more than a year ago in a post bemoaning the noise in the job-search and job-marketplace space. The New York-based start-up’s chief executive Jeremy Lappin responded in the comments, claiming that Matt’s “jaw would have dropped” if he’d actually seen the site. But Lappin acknowledged that’s kind of hard, since you can’t get past the front page if you’re not an employer or a headhunter.

Well, I’m still not inclined to just take the CEO’s word for it, but at least BountyJobs has a demo video for everyone to look at. (I’d embed the video below, but I can’t seem to find any embed code.) Here’s how it works: An employer posts the position they want to fill and how much they’re willing to pay the headhunter, then the interested headhunters can approach them. Employers can accept or deny the headhunter’s offer to try to fill the job. BountyJobs also allows employers to manage the different stages of the job search process, as well as generate summaries of all their different postings. When a job is filled, employers just notify the site and BountyJobs sends the company an invoice.



A site like BountyJobs is appealing because it can help big companies manage all of their different recruiters in one place, while also reducing some of the recruiting hassle for smaller start-ups. The company says it fills thousands of jobs annually, and that its revenue has been doubling for six consecutive quarters. Competing sites include TalentHire and RecruitAlliance, but a BountyJobs spokesperson says the site is more interested in enabling communication than in simply being a place where employers and headhunters can swap resumes.

The round was led by Greylock Partners and brings BountyJobs’ total funding to $15.5 million.

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About the Author, Anthony Ha

Anthony is VentureBeat's assistant editor, as well as its reporter on enterprise technology, cloud computing, and tech policy. Before joining VentureBeat in 2008, Anthony worked at the Hollister Free Lance, where he won awards from the California Newspaper Publishers Association for breaking news coverage and writing. He attended Stanford University and now lives in San Francisco. Reach him at anthony@venturebeat.com. You can also follow Anthony on Twitter.

  • This looks almost identical to YorZ.com - and gets funding. I think I'll take a drupal install, head on to old blog posts and start something.
  • Well, as Matt noted in that old blog post that I linked to, a lot of companies in the space sound pretty similar ...
  • Parrish
    I am seeking a career opportunity and it is pretty amazing on how short sighted the entire search process has become today. The key point to note is this site is more focused on enabling communication versus a resume swap.

    In our world of technology we have lost sight of the importance of basic conversation. Those people who are in search of quality people must make and take the time to have a basic conversation to find the right people for their organizations.
  • Nice job!
    I didn't know Kodak was a customer and or investor of BountyJobs.com
  • Thomas Dicotti
    I have met with employees from both Bountyjobs and TalentHire. I remember the first time I chatted on the trade show floor with Boutyjobs in NY at Kennedy before they launched to compete with Talenthire. When I chat with the TalentHire team at industry events I just felt that they seem to be much more sincere and honest. I personally have questioned a few of the messages from the Bountyjob group at times. I have also heard many questions regarding mixed messages from recruiters that have dealt with them for over a year. Good Luck to them though. I hope that they use the money in a proper manner.
  • Rivo C.
    Thomas, I agree with your comment. I recall meeting with a Scott from TH and he was very sincere. I'd also met with Jeremy from BJ and he seemed kind of sketchy. My reads could be wrong, but I've heard some not so positive things from folks that have used BJ. I like they don't charge an upfront fee, but 25% is stiff. TH on the other hand...it's a shame they are charging a subscription fee....there are simply not that many jobs on their site, so not worth it.
  • broke
    the link to the old blog post is broke.
  • We recently launched ActiveVendors.com (www.activevendors.com). While our business model is similar, our fees are much more rewarding to the recruiters. Come check us out. Right now, we are only accepting registrations from employers and the recruiters that they bring on and/or recommend. In a couple of months we will open up to all recruiting firms.