Belong raises $10m from Sequoia, Matrix

Predictive outbound hiring platform provider Belong today announced it has raised USD 10 million in a Series B funding (second strategic round) led by Sequoia Capital India.
Existing investor Matrix Partners India also participated in the round and the company said it will use the funds to accelerate product development, expand sales and support operations, and hire new talent across engineering, data science, enterprise sales and customer success.
Gautam Mago, Managing Director at Sequoia Capital India Advisors, has joined the Belong Board of Directors, which includes Tarun Davda, Managing Director at Matrix Partners India, and Raju Reddy, Founder and ex-CEO of Sierra Atlantic.

Founded in 2014, Belong provides outbound hiring Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solution to industry leaders like Cisco, Amazon, UHG, Tesco, Reliance Jio and ThoughtWorks.
The company's platform helps businesses discover and target high-fit talent, engage candidates through personalized interactions, and accelerate hiring cycles at scale.
"In today's candidate-centric market, I'd say data-driven outbound hiring is clearly the most intelligent and scientific way to scale recruiting," said Savita Hortikar, Head of Talent Acquisition - India, at ThoughtWorks.

Outbound hiring solutions like Belong are seeing rising demand because of diminishing returns on inbound hiring with top talent today no longer "applying" into jobs. Belong addresses this challenge.

Since Belong raised its Series A funding in June 2015, the company has doubled its number of mid-market and enterprise customers, and has seen a 411 per cent year-on-year increase in the number of offers generated via its platform, it claims.
Timed with the investment, Belong today also announced the launch of Belong Experts, a platform-based solution that connects employers to a verified network of independent talent experts for start-to-finish hiring support.
Launched as a pilot last year, Belong Experts is already being leveraged by some of the fast growing companies, including Uber, LendingKart, Xola and Postman.