Fountain Lands $23M To Grow Job Platform For Gig Workers

Fountain, a recruiting platform for gig and hourly workers, announced that it has closed a $23 million Series B funding round led by DCM.

51job and existing investors Origin Ventures, Uncork Capital and others also participated in the round. Fountain has now raised $34 million to date. As part of this recent round, DCM Co-founder David Chao will join Fountain’s board of directors, while DCM Partner Kyle Lui will join as board observer.

Founded in 2015, Fountain processes more than 1 million applications to fill 150,000 hourly and gig positions every month for its customers, which include Golden Gate Bell, Chick-fil-A, Lime, Safeway and more. Since its launch, Fountain has placed more than 4 million jobs.

“It’s clear the way people work is changing, but the processes companies use to hire hourly workers aren’t,” said Keith Ryu, CEO and co-founder of Fountain, in a press release. “Recruiting workers from this group is fundamentally different than recruiting for your corporate roles. Ninety percent of this population [isn’t] on LinkedIn, and 40 percent [is] unresponsive after completing an application. Many of these employees are holding down two or three jobs and need an easy, automated and mobile way to apply and interview for a new job.”

Fountain’s technology enables businesses to streamline the candidate recruitment process, including sourcing, screening, interview scheduling, processing background checks, SMS communications, document signing and onboarding. The company plans to use this latest round of funding to bolster its research and development (R&D), accelerate product development for existing customers and grow its client list within the restaurant and hospitality industry.

“We’ve had immense success to date, but we’re far more excited about our future,” said Ryu. “Our team is thrilled to have the additional resources to continue helping our customers fill their talent needs, and further our mission of opening opportunities for the global workforce.”