The Quebec company Talent.com, a job search platform based in Montreal and present internationally, is taking a new step in its growth. It announces on Wednesday the closing of a financing stage of 120 million US dollars (approximately 150 million Canadian dollars) led by Inovia Capital with the participation of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), which will allow it to to improve the efficiency of its platform and to make new hires.
Formerly called Neuvoo, Talent.com was founded 11 years ago by Lucas Martinez, Benjamin Philion and Maxime Droux. The platform provides job search engine, tax calculator and salary comparison tools – it is the Quebec rival of the American platforms Indeed and Monster.com. “When we started, we were maybe 50and among the best job search sites on the planet. Today, we have managed to climb into the top five, and the company is profitable,” proudly points out Lucas Martinez, co-founder and co-director of Talent.com. “This funding step will help us move into the next stage of our growth,” he said.
In 2021, the company, whose platform is accessible in 78 countries, generated a turnover of 125 million Canadian dollars. “Our main objective now is to get a billion in revenue over the next few years,” continues Mr. Martinez. “We hope to become the 2and largest job search site in five years. »
Capital springboard
To expand, the Montreal-based company will now be able to count on new capital — 120 million US dollars released during the Series B financing stage led by Inovia Capital, with the participation of the CDPQ and other partners such as Investissement Québec, BDC Capital and Fondaction.
“Since our initial investment in 2019, the company has tripled in size,” explains Alexandre Synnett, Senior Vice-President and Chief Technology Officer at CDPQ. “It’s absolutely phenomenal growth. »
“We believe in the growth prospects of this company, not only because the management team has fulfilled its objectives in recent years, but also because the recruitment market is very large. It represents 550 billion US dollars annually,” notes Mr. Synnett, indicating at the same time the need for this type of platform in a context of labor shortage.
As part of this funding stage, the CDPQ injected $42 million. In 2019, the Caisse had already invested $53 million in the company.
Talent.com also closed a US$30 million bank debt financing with BMO Financial Group’s Technology and Innovation group, bringing the total amount of new investments in the company to US$150 million.
These funds will allow Talent.com, among other things, to develop its programmatic platform, to recruit people in Quebec and abroad, to promote the brand and to develop its new solutions targeted for small and medium-sized businesses.