Estonia-based startup Jobbatical, an AI-enabled platform focused on making employee relocation simple, announced that it has raised €11.6M in a new round of funding.
Inventure VC led the round, with Karma VC, Metaplanet, and current owners Union Square Ventures and Swiss Post also participating. This round was also attended by several angels, including Joe Zadeh, the former Head of Airbnb Experiences, and Devotion Ventures.
Automate relocating talent
Jobbatical claims to have grown 8x year on year with high efficiency and a large number of returning customers such as N26, Pipedrive, and Personio. With operations in ten markets already, the company claims the funds will allow it to enter 30 new markets in the next 24 months.
Karoli and Ronald Hindriks founded Jobbatical in 2014 to automate the time-consuming manual work involved in relocation administration. According to the company, this significantly reduces the workload for HR teams, allowing them to devote more time to activities that add value to the employee experience.
Furthermore, Jobbatical offers a variety of other value-added services, such as assisting talent with opening bank accounts, locating housing, and filing taxes, addressing many of the issues that arise when an employee relocates to a new country.
Karoli Hindriks, co-founder & CEO, Jobbatical says, “The lockdowns following the pandemic should have slowed us down but didn’t- that’s proof that Jobbatical helps companies battle the largest ever global skills shortage as borderless living becomes the norm. As we welcome onboard these new investors, we welcome decision-makers to prioritise staff retention and increase the flexibility of their working models – including liberating their employees to work from anywhere.”
Joe Zadeh, angel investor & former Head of Airbnb Experiences says, “When my family was relocating internationally the process was confusing and required several months of administrative hurdles. When I learned about Jobbatical, I was compelled by their progress on making the whole process extremely simple. This will be great for companies since crossing country borders brings in new perspectives and gives employees far more flexibility.”
Rebecka Rydå at lead investor Inventure says, “At Inventure, we see that the best companies in our portfolio want to offer their employees the ability to work from anywhere in the globe, before Jobbatical that was easier said than done. Karoli, Ronald, Ankur and the team have shown great resilience and grit to tackle one of the biggest challenges in the future of work.”
Inventure VC- lead Investor
Inventure VC, based in Finland and Sweden, claims to be one of the most experienced Nordic venture funds, specialising in assisting its portfolio companies with talent and expansion.
Since its inception in 2005, the firm has invested in over 80 companies ranging from deep tech to consumer internet brands, including Wolt, Detectify, Blueprint Genetics, Swappie, and Insurello. Inventure, which manages €380 million in assets, focuses on Seed and Series A investments in the Nordics and Baltics.
The European Union supports Inventure Funds. Funds I and II are supported by the “Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme” (CIP), and Fund III is supported by the EIF and the EIB with the help of the “European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI).”
