Jobandtalent new Spanish unicorn raises 440 million round - Jobandtalent is already unicorn after raising 440 million in a round: "We are dwarfs and we have a long way to go, it is what motivates us".

Jobandtalent is the new Spanish unicorn. The temporary work startup has reached a valuation of more than 2,000 million after raising 440 million euros in a funding round led by Kinnevik, a Swedish family office, or the Vision Fund II of Softbank.

It was an unplanned round, as confirmed by Juan Urdiales himself, co-founder and co-CEO of the Spanish company. In fact, in an interview Urdiales himself has claimed the great potential that the firm still holds: "We are dwarfs, still very small, we still have a long way to go and that is what motivates us".

In the same interview Urdiales himself assures that the company has not yet decided what its next steps will be. The idea is to remain independent, after recognizing that in the history of the firm they have received two large purchase attempts that they rejected. For this they have different instruments, they recognize: continue raising capital or going public.

Jobandtalent new Spanish unicorn raises 440 million round

For now, the raised capital will serve to consolidate its international expansion (Jobandtalent landed in the US market just a few months ago), as well as to expand its technology and sales teams, and create new products. For years, the company has been developing a platform that helps users and companies find and offer their jobs.

Along with the 440 million raised, Jobandtalent has closed an additional 75 million euro debt financing agreement with Blackrock. In addition, most existing funds have participated in the round, such as Kibo, DN, Infravia, Atomico; and new ones, such as Alma Mundi, Greentrail or Endeavor Catalyst.

Natalie Tydeman, partner at Kinnevik, has reported that the Spanish startup "is changing the current job market "by putting the focus"on employee satisfaction". Urdiales himself confirms, in an interview with this medium, that both his arrival in the US and the situation of the labor market after the pandemic have helped corroborate the potential of the company.

When Urdiales and his partners created Jobandtalent in 2009 the word unicorn "didn't even exist", recalls the businessman laughing. "In 2009 our idea was for the business to work. We knew it was a very large market and it made a lot of sense to have a company that would be in charge of adding value to the job market."

Jobandtalent new Spanish unicorn raises 440 million round

For this reason, reaching this status (which she achieved after other Spaniards such as Cabify, Glovo, Flywire, Letgo, eDreams or Idealista) "was never an obsession". In fact, Urdiales says that the main obsession of Jobandtalent management continues to be to "improve the platform". "We have a lot of livestock and it is working very well, but it can still improve a lot."

Urdiales insists that the company is still small. "Compared to the 500 million temporary workers globally, we are dwarfs."

If Urdiales is asked if operating for a few months in the US and entering there to compete in its market has been the turning point to raise this round, the co-founder of the company duda. "I do not know if it is the fact of being operating or the fact of having clearly identified the market potential." "We have this analysis thanks to having been operating in the US for a few months," he confirms.

One of the objectives of this round "is penetration" in the North American market, as well as registering an increase "in the sales force to attract more companies". "The fact that investors have seen that the US is no longer a long-term objective, but that it is a reality, that we are there and that we see that the need exists and is imperative, has helped us a lot."

Another spur has been the pandemic. "After the pandemic, many companies start hiring again to meet the incipient consumer demand and find a labor market in which there are many workers who are still in ERTE or that in Spain we have the known as low skills floor". But there is one more factor.

Jobandtalent new Spanish unicorn raises 440 million round

"La inmigración ha descendido". "That means that with a lower level of immigration there is less capacity to fill many of these jobs." This has generated "a shortage" in the market in which Jobandtalents, according to Urdiales, "has been able to help companies fill those positions". "We've grown a lot."

In a previous interview with this medium, Juan Urdiales himself detailed that years ago it was very difficult to raise money from international investors. They did not believe that a Spanish company could have that potential. That, to this day, has changed. "What has changed is the Spanish ecosystem. Six years ago there was no company that exceeded 1,000 million valuations."

The fact that in Spain there is already a growing unicorn club has meant that"there are a lot more funds coming in here".

But what Jobandtalent investors have also seen, according to Urdiales, are three factors: "A huge market with gigantic potential, a technology that seems to them the right one to attack it, and a team in which the 25 main professionals that surround us with the founders are international and many of them have been entrepreneurs".

Jobandtalent new Spanish unicorn raises 440 million round

This summer the managers of Jobandtalent recognized in an interview that if they had given the company as it is today four years ago they would not have known how to manage it.

To overcome this challenge, Urdiales believes that the team he mentions of 25 professionals who surround the managers is key. But learning doesn't stand still there.

"We learn a lot from our own team and from other entrepreneurs. When we hire people who bring us in different positions and teach us how to do some things, and they come from the best companies in the world. Or when we bring someone who comes from a leading firm and has participated in its success, it usually comes with recipes and a know-how of things."

"We move a lot with a network of global entrepreneurs, thanks to many of our investors, who have been introducing them to us. This gives us access to entrepreneurs from very large startups to whom on many occasions we have asked the favor of explaining some topics, especially about business culture, " he continues.

Today Jobandtalents has a workforce of more than 1,000 people. "And the next phase is to keep growing it to 3,000 workers." "We had no experience before and well, by surrounding you with the right people and learning from the right people, you get things done."

Jobandtalent new Spanish unicorn raises 440 million round

In addition to consolidating its international expansion, this new round of funding will serve the growth of its sales and technology teams. They are currently present in Europe (Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Sweden, France and Portugal) and Latin America (Mexico, Colombia).

With this round of 440 million, Jobandtalent closes a historic 2021 in which they have managed to raise 688 million. At the end of the fiscal year, the firm plans to close the year with a turnover of more than 1,000 million euros and a workforce of more than 1,000 workers. But that won't make them leave Spain.

Urdiales emphasizes that this round was not planned, so in the short term they rule out making any other capital increase. Nor do they expect to star in an exit: they already received two proposals for two corporate operations years ago, large, which they rejected. "It was a validation," Urdiales says, that his model was on the right track.

The purpose of Urdiales, the rest of the managers and the team of 25 professionals around them is to stay in the company for the next 10 or 20 years, ensuring that it remains independent. To achieve that goal, they do not rule out any instrument. Continue raising funds privately or imagine a future" also listed " on the stock exchange.

"Our idea is to follow one of these two paths, although we have not yet defined the next steps."