Turing Raises $32M to Expand AI-Powered Remote Engineer Platform

With remote work becoming increasingly central to modern business operations, a startup focused on connecting companies with remote engineering talent has secured additional investment to address growing demand.

Turing—a company that utilizes an AI-driven platform to assess potential remote engineers, build remote teams, and manage those teams for client companies—has received $32 million in a Series B funding round, spearheaded by WestBridge Capital. The company’s objective is to create an AI platform that will redefine how businesses locate and acquire the IT professionals needed for expansion.

“Their investment background includes significant experience with global IT services firms such as Cognizant and GlobalLogic,” explained co-founder and CEO Jonathan Siddharth in a recent interview, referring to the lead investor. “We envision Turing as the next evolution of that model. Considering software’s impact on the IT services sector, what might the future hold for Accenture?”

Currently, Turing’s database comprises approximately 180,000 engineers proficient in around 100 different engineering disciplines, including React, Node, Python, Angular, Swift, Android, Java, Rails, Golang, PHP, Vue, DevOps, machine learning, and data engineering, among others.

Besides WestBridge, this funding round also saw participation from Foundation Capital, Altair Capital, Mindset Ventures, Frontier Ventures, and Gaingels. A substantial number of prominent angel investors also contributed, highlighting the founders’ extensive network. These investors include executives from Google, Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, Microsoft, and Snap, as well as Adam D’Angelo (Facebook’s initial CTO and current CEO of Quora), Gokul Rajaram, Cyan Banister and Scott Banister, and Beerud Sheth (the founder of Upwork), to name a few.

Turing has not revealed its current valuation. However, the company’s rapid progress is evident in its recent funding history; it raised a $14 million seed round led by Foundation in August. Siddharth stated that the strong growth and considerable investor interest allowed the company to bypass a Series A round and proceed directly to its Series B.

The platform now hosts 180,000 developers from over 10,000 cities globally (an increase from 150,000 in August). Approximately 50,000 of these developers have completed the automated vetting process on Turing, and the company’s focus is now on attracting more businesses to utilize this extensive talent pool.

As Siddharth puts it, “We are demand-constrained.” Simultaneously, the company is experiencing substantial revenue and customer growth, with revenues increasing from $9.5 million in October to $12 million in November—a 17-fold increase since its general availability launch 14 months ago. Current clients include VillageMD, Plume, Lambda School, Ohi Tech, Proxy, and Carta Healthcare.

Remote Work Presents a Significant Opportunity

Currently, much discussion surrounding remote work centers on the shift away from traditional office environments due to the need to limit the spread of COVID-19. However, a different iteration of this practice has existed for many years.

Companies have long utilized offshoring and outsourcing, often with the assistance of companies like Accenture and other systems integration firms, as methods for growth and operation. This involves compensating these third parties to manage specific functions or develop particular areas, rather than directly handling the expenses associated with employing, expanding, and sometimes reducing their own workforce.

Turing effectively integrates both of these approaches. It has developed a novel system for sourcing and managing teams, particularly engineers, for other organizations. Simultaneously, it is capitalizing on the opportunities created over the past year to encourage engineering leaders and others to consider engaging individuals who they might have previously required to work on-site, and still maintain effectiveness.

Siddarth and his co-founder, Vijay Krishnan (the company’s CTO), are intimately familiar with this dynamic. Both originate from India and initially relocated to Silicon Valley for educational pursuits—completing post-graduate studies at Stanford—and subsequently for work, during a period when moving to the Valley was largely essential for ambitious individuals seeking employment with major global technology companies or aiming to establish their own, potentially large-scale, global tech ventures.

“Talent is globally available, but opportunities are not evenly distributed,” Siddarth explained earlier this year when discussing the current situation.

A prior venture co-founded by the pair—the content discovery application Rover—revealed a deficiency in the market. They constructed the startup around a remote and distributed engineering team, which enabled them to control costs while still attracting highly skilled professionals. In contrast, their competitors were building teams within the Valley. “All of our competitors in Palo Alto and the surrounding region were expending substantial funds, and this situation is only worsening. Salaries have risen dramatically,” he noted.

Following the acquisition of Rover by Revcontent, a recommendation platform competing with Taboola and Outbrain, they resolved to focus on developing a startup modeled after their previous experience.

Several companies are currently addressing various aspects of the remote work opportunity, specifically concerning talent acquisition and management.

These include companies such as Remote (which secured $35 million in November), Deel ($30 million in September), Papaya Global ($40 million also in September), Lattice ($45 million in July), and Factorial ($16 million in April), among others.

What sets Turing apart is its comprehensive approach to addressing the different phases involved in finding new talent. It begins with an AI-powered platform for sourcing and evaluating candidates. This progresses to matching individuals with suitable opportunities and facilitating their onboarding. Turing then assists in managing their work and productivity securely, and also offers guidance on the optimal methods for managing these workers, whether as contractors or potentially as full-time remote employees.

The company does not operate on a freemium model, but instead provides a two-week trial period for potential clients to evaluate candidates before committing to a project. This built-in flexibility mirrors the elasticity that Turing promises to its customers, unlike a traditional firm like Accenture.

While this concept appears promising now, it only began to gain significant momentum after remote work became widespread around March/April of this year.

“The impact of COVID-19 has been remarkable. It has fueled substantial growth for Turing,” stated Sumir Chadha, Managing Director at WestBridge Capital, in an interview. He added that for organizations building technology teams, there is now “No longer a need to locate engineers and connect them with clients. All of this is now handled in the cloud.”

“Turing possesses a highly compelling business model, which is particularly relevant in today’s environment,” commented Igor Ryabenkiy, Managing Partner at Altair Capital, in a statement. “Providing access to the best global talent while maintaining effective management and cost-efficiency makes their offering appealing to many corporations. The founders’ drive is fostering rapid company growth, which will likely accelerate further following this funding round.”

PS. As promised, here is the complete list of investors in this round. Given the current circumstances, this is likely to be one of the largest gatherings you’ll see for some time. In addition to those previously mentioned, the list includes [deep breath] Founders Fund, Chapter One Ventures (Jeff Morris Jr.), Plug and Play Tech Ventures (Saeed Amidi), UpHonest Capital (​Wei Guo, Ellen Ma​), Ideas & Capital (Xavier Ponce de León), 500 Startups Vietnam (Binh Tran and Eddie Thai), Canvas Ventures (Gary Little), B Capital (Karen Appleton P​age, Kabir Narang), Peak State Ventures (​Bryan Ciambella, Seva Zakharov)​, Stanford StartX Fund, Amino C​apital, ​Spike Ventures, Visary Capital (Faizan Khan), Brainstorm Ventures (Ariel Jaduszliwer), Dmitry Chernyak, Lorenzo Thione, Shariq Rizvi, Siqi Chen, Yi Ding, Sunil Rajaraman, Parakram Khandpur, Kintan Brahmbhatt, Cameron Drummond, Kevin Moore, Sundeep Ahuja, Auren Hoffman, Greg Back, Sean Foote, Kelly Graziadei, Bobby Balachandran, Ajith Samuel, Aakash Dhuna, Adam Canady, Steffen Nauman, Sybille Nauman, Eric Cohen, Vlad V, Marat Kichikov, Piyush Prahladka, Manas Joglekar, Vladimir Khristenko, Tim and Melinda Thompson, Alexandr Katalov, Joseph and Lea Anne Ng, Jed Ng, Eric Bunting, Rafael Carmona, Jorge Carmona, Viacheslav Turpanov, James Borow, Ray Carroll, Suzanne Fletcher, Denis Beloglazov, Tigran Nazaretian, Andrew Kamotskiy, Ilya Poz, Natalia Shkirtil, Ludmila Khrapchenko, Ustavshchikov Sergey, Maxim Matcin and Peggy Ferrell.