The French Startup Welcome to the Jungle has raised an 8.4 million euros (7 million euros) fundraiser from XAnge, Bpifrance and Kima Ventures, as well as existing investors Jean-Paul Guisset and Michael Benabou.
Welcome to the jungle takes a different approach to recruitment. The startup is not going to find employees for you. Instead, Welcome to the Jungle wants to give you the tools and exposure needed to get enough inbound applications.
The company began by profiling hundreds of technology companies in Paris. Instead of creating a giant Excel spreadsheet, Welcome to the Jungle works with a video team, photographers and editorial staff to produce high quality content about your business. Think of it as glossy items with a production budget comparable to that of Condé Nast.
All this is expensive. Companies pay for these profiles and get their own page on the Welcome to the Jungle website. In addition to this, Welcome to the Jungle also produces quarterly magazines for a hundred universities and a thick paper magazine once a year.
And it is true that Welcome to the Jungle has covered a ton of businesses in Paris. When you think of a business name, chances are you find a profile on Welcome to the Jungle.
Overall, a thousand businesses have joined Welcome to the Jungle. The website now attracts 600,000 unique visitors each month. For engineers, you can now filter based on your skills and technical stack.
On top of that, the startup has gradually increased its software recruitment platform as a service called Welcome Kit. Imagine someone talks to you about your business in the Welcome to the Jungle magazine and then ends up on a poorly designed job page.
The welcome kit replaces the "Jobs" link in the footer of your website. The platform allows you to list the positions, create application forms and follow the candidates. Basic features are free and you can pay for additional features and customization options.
With funding today, it is time to go further. The company now wants to expand to another country, which could be Spain. This is going to be a slow expansion as Welcome to the Jungle has to bring together a local team in each country to create content.