In the past month so we’ve seen an uptick in acquisitions in the job board space.
iHire acquired WorkinSports, Biospace acquired MedReps and Jobcase, the hourly job network just made its first big acquisition. They acquired Upward.net (which previously had acquired Proven.com).
From the press release…
Jobcase, already serving more than 110 million registered members and nearly 20 million monthly active unique users, will increase its digital footprint by over 30% with the addition of Upward (placing the combined network as the 3rd largest online career destination). Jobcase serves members by providing a set of hiring and career navigation tools, community and connections, and a network of sites owned, operated or powered by Jobcase technology to help leverage success and remove friction in the talent marketplace.
“We’ve been big fans of the Upward team for years and are thrilled to grow our combined network and technology,” said Fred Goff, co-founder and CEO of Jobcase. “Our vision of empowering workers combined with Upward’s mission of eliminating friction on both sides of the hiring equation is a perfect fit!”
According to Goff, the current labor market and economic recovery are uncharted waters. “The current K-shaped recovery is increasing inequities in our system of capitalism; meanwhile employers looking to ramp back up are struggling to find the talent they need as they face a surprising imbalance in labor supply and demand,” said Goff. “Today, we’ve taken a large step forward in scale and reach to ensure Jobcase stands ready to help get America and its workers back on track and back to work.”
Upward.net will be a fully owned subsidiary of Jobcase and will retain 100% of its current employees. Steve Lombardi, CEO of Upward.net will stay on as General Manager of Upward. Co-founders Brian Hom, COO, and Zubin Nagarvala, Chief Business Development Officer, will continue in their current roles, as will other Upward management and staff.
For Jobcase, this is how they grow. They just added a bunch of users and traffic to keep their business in motion. Buying Upward does two things;
- Removes a competitor from the market.
- Adds instant traffic to the job inventory.
Established job sites like Upward have value and Jobcase just added value to its bottom line.
We are seeing the well established sites get acquired. If you can build a community with traffic over time, someone will probably want it eventually.
