Israeli HR tech startup’s $10m series A round led by Vertex Ventures

Human resources tech startup Joonko, which has offices in Israel and the US, said it has raised a US$10 million series A round led by Vertex Ventures Israel.

Team Joonko / Photo credit: Joonko

This is Vertex Ventures Israel’s first startup investment that focuses on social justice. The venture capital firm has previously backed startups such as OwnBackup, Verbit, and Yotpo.

Founded in 2017, Joonko assists companies to achieve diversity, equity, and inclusion goals by identifying and suggesting pre-qualified candidates from across a range of underrepresented sectors. The company’s solution saves recruiters time on sourcing, attracting, and validating relevant candidates.

Joonko uses an AI-powered algorithm to match available talent to relevant job openings. Its current applicant pool consists of over 100,000 individuals, belonging to minority groups and other underrepresented job seekers.

The HR tech platform had raised US$2.4 million in a seed funding round led by Alabama Futures Fund in 2019.

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Many companies, including major corporations like McDonald’s, have drawn up incentive programs for diversity hiring. Yet, the technology ecosystem hasn’t seemed to make much progress when it comes to inclusion, Joonko said in a statement.

“The long-term goal here is to become a go-to solution for HR departments to recruit top diverse talent along with providing the know-how and tools that empower an inclusive workplace culture,” said Ilit Raz, Joonko’s CEO and co-founder.

Joonko’s client list includes names like Adidas, PayPal, American Express, Regions Bank, Atlassian, and Intuit. The company says that it has seen a 40% quarter-on-quarter growth throughout 2020.