US-based online recruitment platform WayUp has secured $18.5m in a series B round backed by media company Axel Springer and talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA).
Venture capital firm Trinity Ventures led the round, which included General Catalyst, BoxGroup, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, Index Ventures, SV Angel, Female Founders Fund and OurCrowd. CAA took part in the round through its corporate venturing arm, CAA Ventures.
Founded in 2014 as CampusJob, WayUp operates a recruitment marketplace for students and recent graduates. The platform has some 3.5 million profiles on it and claims that up to 30,000 students are signing up for the service each week.
Liz Wessel, WayUp’s co-founder and CEO, said: “Our vision at WayUp goes beyond finding students awesome job opportunities. As recent graduates continue to use the platform beyond graduation, we’re excited to grow with them.
“It is typical for millennials to change jobs multiple times in their early career as they hone in on their unique skill sets and passions, yet there was not a ‘smart’ job platform or marketplace out there that catered to helping them make a thoughtful next move.”
The round boosted WayUp’s overall funding to $27.5m, and the funding will go to developing its advanced machine learning and personalisation technologies as the company looks to further develop its platform.
General Catalyst Partners led the company’s $7.8m series A round in 2015, investing together with Index Ventures, Box Group, SV Angel, Slow Ventures and Lerer Hippeau Ventures.
Box Group, Lerer Hippeau Ventures (then known as Lerer Ventures), F Cubed, Red Sea and angel investor Kal Vepuri provided WayUp’s seed funding.