Alignable, the network for local business owners, has added an additional USD1.5 million in a strategic investment from Recruit Strategic Partners, the Silicon Valley based venture capital firm.
This brings Alignable’s total raise to USD13.5 million with the most recent prior round being USD8 million in September 2015 led by Mayfield Fund and existing investors Saturn Partners, NextView Ventures and Lead Edge Capital.
Recruit Strategic Partners is a 100 percent subsidiary of Recruit Holdings from Japan and has invested in innovative startups, including 99designs, Bench, Docusign, Kabbage and Shipbob, amongst others. The investment from Recruit Strategic Partners will be used by Alignable to accelerate user growth, engagement and hiring in its Boston office, where the company is headquartered.
During the past 12 months, Alignable has driven positive growth and engagement, increasing from 7,000 to 8,000 communities in North America and increasing the number of small business connections made on the platform from a half million to more than 1 million.
“We’re excited by Alignable’s traction to date within the local business community,” says Joe Saijo, President and Managing Director at Recruit Strategic Partners. “Investing in Alignable was a natural progression for our investment portfolio and further cements our passion and excitement for the global, local business community.”
Alignable’s principal mission is connecting business owners to each other within hyper-localised communities by providing the network and platform to engage.
“Alignable is growing in exciting ways as we continue to place our strategic bets on the needs of local business owners,” says Eric Groves, Co-Founder and CEO at Alignable. “The community growing on Alignable is defining the future of how local businesses interact and work with each other, and it’s thrilling to be a part of the transformation each and every day.”
