Telecommunications and internet group Softbank’s Vision Fund 2 led a $200m series E round yesterday for Andela, the US-based operator of a recruitment service for software developers, at a $1.5bn valuation.
The round included Whale Rock Capital Management, Generation Investment Management (Generation IM), Spark Capital and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, an investment holding vehicle for Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan.
Andela was founded in 2014 and has built a network that connects software engineers from emerging markets to enterprises globally.
Initially launching in Africa, Andela has now spread its network to more than 80 countries across six continents. Software development platform GitHub and broadcaster ViacomCBS are among its customers.
The company will invest the proceeds of the round in developing new products and expanding its remit beyond software development to other skill areas such as design.
Lydia Jett, founding partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, which manages Vision Fund 2, will join Andela’s board of directors in conjunction with the series E round.
Jett said: “Hiring remote technical talent is one of the top challenges that companies face today. We believe Andela will become the preferred talent partner for the world’s best companies as remote and hybrid work arrangements become the norm.”
Andela had previously raised $180m in total. It closed a $100m series D round in early 2019 led by Generation IM that included GV, a corporate venture capital unit for internet technology group Alphabet, in addition to Spark Capital, CRE Venture Capital and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
The company raised $40m in a 2017 series C round that included GV and Salesforce Ventures, the corporate VC arm of enterprise software provider Salesforce, as well as Spark Capital, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, DBL Partners, Amplo and TLcom Capital.
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative led Andela’s $24m series B round, in 2016, which also featured GV, CRE, Spark Capital, Omidyar Network and Learn Capital. The last two had contributed to its $14.7m series A round in 2015 after joining Spark Capital and CRE in a seed round of undisclosed size the year before.