How a Dublin firm finds people jobs all over the world

Hiring marketplace Jobbio has raised €5 million in funding as it continues to fund its international expansion.

The company, founded in 2014 by brothers Stephen and John Quinn, connects jobseekers and companies directly and privately so they can find out about opportunities as they arise.

It also has a live applicant system that allows HR managers to manage a live talent pool.

It has more than 3,000 companies signed up to the platform, including Paypal, Stripe, Airbnb, Uber, Claridge's Hotel and The Shelbourne hotel.

The company said it is signing up potential jobseekers at a rate of 100,000 per month, with 70 per cent of that number now outside Ireland.

Chief executive Stephen Quinn said the signing of the deal was welcome news for the company.

“It’s massively encouraging,” he said. “We’re definitely on to something so it’s just about executing it now.”

The company had only been exploring the possibility of raising funding for a short time before it closed the funding round.

“We had been speaking to some people before we required some money, which is always a good thing to do in the investment world.

“We got made an offer that we thought suited us and we stopped looking and just went to close that,” Mr Quinn said.

Strategy

That offer was the Series A round led by NJF Capital, which is one of the investors behind Dollar Shave Club, which was recently bought by Unilever for $1 billion.

Other backers include Balderton Capital founder Barry Maloney, the Smurfit family and chairman of the Grafton Group Michael Chadwick.

The funding round also came in the wake of the Brexit vote on European Union membership, despite anticipation of difficulties in the market.

“There is a bit of an idea that maybe the investment world is changed slightly with Brexit, but actually we weren’t affected by it,” he said.

“From our perspective the timing was quite good. The process had started, we were talking to them before it. It didn’t change their minds or ours.”

The company is now looking at expanding its London office, a plan that is undeterred by the recent vote to leave the European Union.

“London is the main focus for this investment. We’re doubling down on London, “ he said.

“The uncertainty always causes concern. We don’t actually know what’s going to happen. We’ll continue to work with our customers, and if they are hiring and looking for the talent, and we can supply it, we’ll continue.”

It’s a strategy that has paid off already for the firm. It has operations in Dublin, London and New York, and a development office in Moscow.

Mr Quinn said the service had largely followed where its customers led.

“We’re about putting your jobs in front of the most relevant eyeballs no matter where they are,” he said.

“Our customers started to put jobs in places we didn’t have a presence. They were starting to hire in London so we followed the customers. Then customers in London started putting jobs in Germany and Israel.”

Next on the horizon for Jobbio is growth in New York, with Canada also a target.

The extra funding will also mean hiring at the company and the Quinns plan to expand its tech, product, marketing, sales and operations roles.

With the majority of the business still controlled from Dublin – most of the marketing, tech and product functions are in the city, with small local teams on the ground in its other locations – that will mean additional jobs in its Irish base.

“I fundamentally believe this business model applies to any city in the world,” Mr Quinn said. “The ultimate goal is to build an incredible business from Dublin.”