OfferZen Announces €4 Million in Funding and Business Model Revamp

OfferZen, the South African developer hiring marketplace, has successfully concluded a funding round, securing EUR4 million (US$4.3 million) from prominent investors.

This comes alongside significant changes to the platform's business model and key personnel transitions.

Established in 2015 and officially launched in 2016, OfferZen functions as a developer hiring marketplace, streamlining the process for companies to optimize their workforce.

The platform connects carefully selected, actively job-seeking developers with job opportunities across a network of over 2,000 companies, both in South Africa and beyond.

Following a noteworthy US$5.1 million funding round in 2021, OfferZen has now raised an additional US$4.3 million, with contributions from Invenfin and AI Capital.

OfferZen's co-founder, Philip Joubert, expressed enthusiasm about the funding, stating, “Securing this funding from investors who share our long-term vision is a testament to our team’s hard work. We couldn’t be more excited to partner with investors that bring so much experience. Their support and capital investment will help us make a lot of product improvements over the coming months.”

The company has also unveiled modifications to its business model. In response to the challenges faced by its customers in 2023, OfferZen introduced a fixed-fee unlimited hiring subscription, aiming to alleviate financial strain on tech companies. Joubert commented on this change, saying, “It’s always scary making a big change to your business, but fortunately Unlimited worked. It’s easy to budget for, competitively priced, and we hoped it would relieve some of the pressure our customers were feeling. A significant number of our customers have moved to the subscription model over the last year.”

After serving as CEO for three years, Joubert is passing on the leadership to Matt Beck, previously the VP of Marketing. Joubert expressed confidence in Beck, stating, “Matt has been instrumental in leveling up our business for scale, loves our brand, and has been a great champion of our values. I’m glad to be able to call him my new boss.”

Beck shared his excitement about the upcoming year, stating, “I’m really excited about this year. Our customers can expect the most significant updates to the platform yet in the coming months as we’re introducing completely new ways for candidates and companies to connect using AI.”

Source: Tom Jackson / Disrupt Africa