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OfferZen intensifies European expansion after R81m funding

Sibahle Malinga
By Sibahle Malinga, ITWeb senior news journalist.
Johannesburg, 02 Dec 2021
OfferZen co-founder Philip Joubert.
OfferZen co-founder Philip Joubert.

Tech talent marketplace OfferZen is planning global expansion after raising €4.5 million (R81 million) in Series A funding from Base Capital, a South African investment company.

Launched in November 2015 by brothers Malan and Philip Joubert, in collaboration with entrepreneur Brett Jones, OfferZen connects companies with top software developers looking for permanent work.

Employers register on the recruitment platform and are given access to a curated list of developers.

This is the first round of funding raised by OfferZen – the start-up has been bootstrapped since its establishment in 2015.

It started in Cape Town and expanded to the Netherlands in April 2020 after acquiring TryCatch, a recruitment tech start-up based in Amsterdam.

The new funding, according to OfferZen, will help it deepen its European expansion, as it looks to set up a presence in two countries on the continent.

“Right now tech hiring is growing at a rate well beyond our wildest expectations. We’re seeing record numbers of both developers and companies signing up to use the OfferZen platform. We experienced a 29% increase in placements between the third and fourth quarter of 2021 alone,” says OfferZen CEO Philip Joubert.

“We’re aiming to offer South African and European companies the biggest pool of high-quality developers and the best experience for hiring them. With this investment, the massive growth in venture capital raised and the subsequent explosion of demand for tech talent, we believe the timing is right for us to double-down on our vision.”

The start-up says it has established itself well locally, with many of its partner organisations utilising its services and paying upfront to make a set number of hires on the platform.

Hires made by organisations on its partner product now constitute almost 40% of all placements it makes – allowing OfferZen to attract some of the best talent, as developers can access a constant flow of new job opportunities, it notes.

OfferZen says it has helped companies like Luno, Absa, MMI Holdings, Takealot, WeTransfer, Adyen and Catawiki hire from a community of over 100 000 software developers on its platform.

It will further invest in the local tech community and grow its operations, products and teams in SA.

According to the 2021 ICT Skills Survey, significant digital skills gaps persist, as South African organisations battle to fill tens of thousands of vacancies.

“OfferZen focuses on building an engaged developer community through events, tech community sponsorships, content and developer reports.

“Tech hiring came to a near standstill in the first half of 2020 due to COVID. Since then, we’ve seen a huge acceleration in the market – companies are now raising far more capital than they were pre-pandemic, investing more in technology and subsequently hiring much faster,” states Joubert.

The company offers two payment models: pay-per-placement with a once-off placement fee, or the OfferZen Partner solution, an annual subscription tailored to an organisation’s hiring plans. Developers do not pay to use the platform.

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