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Growing Beyond Borders: From a Local Shophouse Operation to a Series D Funded Regional Talent Ecosystem

Oswald YeoOswald Yeo

When we first started Glints, we were living and working out of a shophouse (known locally in Indonesia as a “ruko”). 

Here are some of my favorite photos from our journey at Glints so far: 

working from a shophouse laptop over a washing machine

This is a photo of one of our first product managers holding a product meeting. The team was growing rapidly and there weren’t enough tables, so she went ahead and used the washing machine as a table!

bedroom at night white with three beds and white blanket

This is a photo of the founders’ bedroom on the 4th floor of the shophouse. We managed to fit 3 beds into the room by lining them up wall-to-wall, which allowed Steve, Ying Cong, Yong Jie, and I to share the room. The setup was great for productivity (it allowed us to minimize time spent in Jakarta traffic), cost savings on hotel, and team bonding. 

While we have since outgrown the washing machine table and the shophouse, I believe that the startup hustle has been very much alive in our culture. Being relentlessly resourceful is encoded in our culture code.

And that will continue to stay true even as we announce a new milestone today — that we have closed US$50 Million in Series D funding to scale our regional talent ecosystem, co-led by DCM Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital, and returning investor PERSOL Holdings.

The Series D round also includes strong participation from investors including Endeavor Catalyst and existing investors include Monk’s Hill Ventures, Fresco Capital, and Binny Bansal, co-founder of Flipkart.

Our Mission – Realizing Human Potential

Our mission at Glints is to realize human potential for people and organizations and we are on a journey to build the #1 Talent Ecosystem in Southeast Asia. 

We are proud of the impact we are making on job-seekers and businesses in Southeast Asia. Every hour, there are thousands of candidates submitting job applications on the platform. Every month, millions of dollars in earned income go-to talent in emerging markets through our ecosystem.

At the same time, we provide employers with an end-to-end solution and enable small, and medium businesses and corporations in Southeast Asia and from all around the world to hire the right talent from anywhere in Southeast Asia, in turn enabling them to achieve their own mission.

Leading Talent Ecosystem in Southeast Asia

Taking a talent-first approach, we have built the leading talent ecosystem to support and empower the career development of 120 million professionals in Southeast Asia.

As we scale and recognize that the future of work continues to evolve, one thing remains unchanged: every individual has the opportunity to realize their potential with the right opportunities and resources.

Our world-class team of local Glintstars, investors and advisors who share this vision have been key to driving our sustainable growth at scale. 

This US$50 Million Series D Funding round marks the largest investment round into a career platform in Southeast Asia — with lead investors DCM Capital, Lavender Hill, and Tokyo-listed PERSOL Holdings joins a world-class team of investors and advisors cementing Glints’ foothold in the career development and talent space in Southeast Asia.

The Future of Work in Southeast Asia

Looking forward, employers globally are continuing to take an increasing interest in hiring talent within Southeast Asia. The region has become an attractive source of strong tech talent for employers globally as employers have shifted to ‘borderless’ mindsets to find the best talent anywhere.

The Southeast Asia tech market is maturing rapidly and is poised to be a strong contender as a hub for tech innovation. Southeast Asia will be a hub for millions of strong tech talent with increasingly digitized economies and maturing tech ecosystems.

With these tailwinds, Glints’ annual revenue and gross profits grew 2.5x y-o-y, continuing the trend of the business growing at triple-digit percentages annually for the past 4 years. Remote cross-border job opportunities on the Glints’ platform have grown more than 11x over the past two years, where employers are seeking remote talent in markets outside where their company operates.

Beginners’ Mindset – Less than 1% done

As we said in 2021 and will say again this year: despite growing more than 100% in the past year, we are still less than 1% done. 

Our progress so far is only possible because of the customers, users, team members and investors that have chosen to place their trust in us. Thank you.

We believe that we are just at the beginning of a long growth journey and continue to be growing our teams across all fronts. For anyone interested in joining a mission to help all people and organizations realize human potential, please check out our culture deck here and say hello.

Thank you!

Oswald, Ying Cong, Steve, Yong Jie

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