Gloat Raises $57M to Revolutionize Internal Job Boards

The Rise of Internal Mobility: Gloat Secures $57 Million Funding

Currently, much attention within the recruitment sector is directed towards innovative technologies designed to connect individuals with employment opportunities at external organizations. However, this focus inadvertently creates a significant opportunity to enhance internal transfer processes. Today, a startup dedicated to refining this experience is announcing a substantial funding round to facilitate its expansion.

Gloat's AI-Powered Talent Marketplace

Gloat has developed an AI-driven platform marketed to businesses to streamline their internal job boards. The company has recently secured $57 million in funding, which will be allocated to business development initiatives and further platform enhancements. These improvements include expanding support for contract positions, facilitating secondments to other companies, and extending functionality to encompass front-line roles, in addition to the knowledge worker positions the AI currently serves. The overarching goal is to improve career agility for valued employees, offering them opportunities within their current organization, either as an alternative to or in conjunction with external job searches.

Investment Details

Accel is leading this Series C funding round, with participation from existing investors including Eight Roads Ventures (backed by Fidelity), Intel Capital, Magma Venture Partners, and PICO Partners.

Valuation and Customer Base

While Gloat has not publicly disclosed its valuation, estimates place it in the range of $300 million to $500 million. To date, the Tel Aviv-based startup has raised a total of $92 million. Its clientele includes prominent companies such as Unilever, Pepsi, MetLife, HSBC, and ADP.

The Genesis of Gloat

Ben Reuveni, Gloat’s CEO and co-founder alongside Amichai Schreiber and Danny Shteinberg, conceived the idea for the company during his time as an engineer at IBM. Following IBM’s acquisition of a smaller firm where he previously worked, Reuveni found it challenging to identify how his skills aligned with available internal opportunities.

Challenges with Traditional Internal Job Boards

Reuveni observed that, despite the existence of internal job boards at IBM, it was difficult to determine how his expertise mapped onto available positions. This issue was compounded by the lack of focus on individualized career development and talent retention for employees at lower pay grades within large enterprises.

“I was essentially limited to two choices,” he explained. “Seeking employment outside the company, or attempting to find a suitable role internally. Surprisingly, exploring external options proved easier than navigating the internal landscape.”

He discovered that his experience was not isolated, with internal job boards typically exhibiting low engagement rates, often falling below 10% of the workforce.

Gloat's Solution: A Two-Way Talent Marketplace

Driven by these observations, Reuveni founded Gloat. The company’s core offering is a job board tool designed for large organizations – those with thousands of employees and existing job boards – to improve talent retention by identifying the optimal roles for individuals seeking career changes.

The platform achieves this by minimizing barriers to adoption, seamlessly integrating with existing recruiting software and tools used by organizations to advertise job openings. These openings are then channeled through Gloat’s system and algorithm.

Furthermore, Gloat builds profiles not only of jobs but also of employees and their skills, facilitating a more effective match between the two. This transforms the traditionally one-sided process into a two-way effort. Information on employees is gathered from employment records, resumes, LinkedIn profiles, and direct employee input, all of which is processed by the AI to identify suitable openings.

Skill Development and Internal Mobility

When an employee’s skills don’t perfectly align with desired roles, Gloat provides guidance on necessary skill development and may suggest “part-time” internal projects to gain relevant experience. This mirrors career development tools offered by platforms like LinkedIn.

Simultaneously, hiring departments receive referrals through the system and can proactively leverage the Gloat database to identify potential candidates.

Addressing the Managerial Factor

A critical consideration is the role of managers. What happens when an employee works in a challenging environment or has a strained relationship with their manager? Managers, often evaluated on team performance, may be reluctant to encourage valuable employees to explore other opportunities.

Gloat’s system requires managerial endorsement as part of the process. Could this potentially hinder the system’s effectiveness in situations where managers are unsupportive?

Reuveni dismissed this concern, framing Gloat as a “win-win” for managers, who will be motivated to support employees because the platform assists them in finding suitable replacements. “Every manager can initiate a part-time project or internal job opening through the platform,” he stated.

While this perspective is optimistic, employees in difficult situations may still find external job boards a more viable option.

Expanding the Scope of Internal Mobility

Gloat is actively expanding the concept of “internal hires” to encompass a broader range of scenarios. This includes providing opportunities for existing contractors seeking new assignments, facilitating transitions to similar roles at non-competing organizations (particularly during restructuring events), and offering enhanced analytics to HR teams and management for a comprehensive view of talent within the company.

The Future of Talent Management

Given the ongoing challenges of talent retention and brain drain across numerous industries, Gloat’s approach appears timely and relevant.

“As companies adapt their workforces to embrace flexibility and remote work, new tools are essential to optimize productivity and ensure equitable opportunities,” stated Philippe Botteri, partner at Accel. “Gloat pioneered the Talent Marketplace to address this need, and it is now becoming a strategic asset for global enterprises. Leading companies are already benefiting from the workforce agility enabled by Gloat’s AI-powered platform. The Accel team is excited to partner with Gloat as it continues to innovate and bring this new approach to talent development and workforce management to organizations worldwide.”