Glints reclaims revenue growth in 2024 with China plus one play

Good talent, like profit, can be hard to come by.

Recruitment and career development platform Glints could attest to this. Its losses from operations widened by 18% year on year while revenue dipped by 4% in 2023, according to data from platform Handshakes.ai.

However, the Singapore-based company seemingly found a glimmer of hope in 2024. Revenue grew by 10% year on year while losses narrowed by 22%.

Glints said this was a result of more disciplined spending and improvements in efficiency.

The company also told Tech in Asia that it plans to generate an operating profit from its talent solutions business by the end of 2025.

Glints connects job seekers with employers across Southeast Asia. It was founded in 2013 by Oswald Yeo, Looi Qin En, and Seah Ying Cong – college dropouts who started the business with US$475,000 in seed money.

Looi left Glints in 2017 and is now a partner at corporate VC firm Saison Capital.

Glints chief executive Oswald Yeo / Photo credit: Glints

Glints has since grown to raise over US$82 million in disclosed funding from investors like Monk’s Hill, Wavemaker Partners, and Lavender Hill Capital Partners. It most recently raised US$50 million via a series D round in 2022.

One factor that drove its revenue growth in 2024 was the increasing trend of Chinese companies expanding into Southeast Asia.

The company told Tech in Asia that the domestic slowdown in China meant that “many Chinese businesses are now looking overseas for growth, with Southeast Asia as a natural first destination.”

Glints said that as a result, its revenue from China rose by 2.6x between 2023 and 2024, although the firm did not state exactly what these figures were.

Helping more Chinese companies enter Southeast Asia is one of the company’s top priorities in 2025.

But there’s also more growth to come beyond the China to Southeast Asia corridor.