One-stop hiring shop Hireology got an infusion of $10 million in venture capital, an investment that not only will help the HR software vendor expand, but also is an endorsement of the company by a leading HR VC firm.
Bain Capital Ventures, which provided capital financing to such companies as Taleo and LinkedIn, says Chicago-based Hireology has “strong growth potential.” Mike Krupka, Bain managing director, noted the recruiting-specialist firm, founded in 2010, grew “from a promising start-up into a major player in the HR technology field, providing easy-to-use talent management technology to organizations that previously did everything manually.”
Bain’s investment will help the company expand beyond its initial focus on franchise operators and some service firms with large numbers of small locations. Hireology CEO and co-founder Adam Robinson said the company has already begun to pursue retailers with small shops in multiple locations, auto dealers and real estate agencies.
“Our solution is all about helping that manager out in the field who has limited or no HR support to do it right themselves,” Robinson told The Chicago Tribune. GNC, the vitamin and nutrition seller, became the first retailer to sign on. The Friendship Family of Dealerships signed on last month to use Hireology at its 16 franchise locations.
Hireology’s recruiting software does what all ATS programs do, but it goes beyond to provide a recommendation engine, helping hiring managers with little or no recruiting skills to choose candidates most likely to succeed. The Hireology platform includes a series of assessments, which, in combination with other factors, compare candidates to the individual company’s top performers to make predictions about the potential of job applicants.
The company describes its Selection Manager platform as helping decentralized companies “make well-informed, science-based decisions about their candidates.”
The Bain investment comes shortly after a decision by the general counsel for the National Labor Relations Board that even though McDonald’s franchisees are mostly independent businesses, McDonald’s corporate is a joint employer. That ruling, unless overturned by a court, will put pressure by franchisors to exercise even more control over their operators, which could well include requirements on who and how to hire. That could bring companies with a distributed operation and multiple franchise locations knocking on Hireology’s door.