PeopleTech Partners' Portfolio Company, Searchlight, Announces $2.5 Million Seed Round Led by Accel

SAN FRANCISCO, November 22, 2019 (Newswire.com) - ​​​PeopleTech Partners' (PTP) portfolio company, Searchlight, recently announced a raise of $2.5 million in seed funding, led by Accel Partners, with participation from Founders Fund Pathfinder, Soma Capital, Y Combinator, and a diverse team of angels. The funding is vital to Searchlight’s mission to build software that helps companies hire more diverse teams by better leveraging references within the hiring process.

Searchlight’s founders, and twin sisters, Kerry and Anna Wang, both computer science graduates from Stanford with past work experience at Google and McKinsey, were inspired after experiencing the broken hiring process in their own job search. Successfully completing PeopleTech Partners' growth program earlier this year, Searchlight is the latest company to join the list of prestigious innovations within PTP’s portfolio. "It has been a pleasure working with Kerry and Anna Wang, as they truly embody what we at PTP look for in our founders. They came in eager to learn what HR leaders are looking for, listened with intention to the feedback they received and translated it into action and advancement for their product. Watching the changes in the Searchlight solution from the start of the program to now has been a lot of fun and the feedback from HR and People leaders interested in trying Searchlight is very strong," Robby Peters, Co-Founder, PeopleTech Partners.

Searchlight’s contribution to people tech saves time and resources, with customers saving 4+ hours per hire. Over 80% of Searchlight’s customers today have also increased hiring of underrepresented minorities in the workforce. “Searchlight solves all that with a simple but powerful SaaS product to manage the workflow and sharing of references. They make it easy for any company to check references -- so easy that, now, companies want to do their references earlier in the hiring process so they can identify top candidates faster,” says Dan Levine, Partner, Accel.

Searchlight’s announcement is another success story from the PTP esteemed Growth Program. “PTP and the collective wisdom of its people leaders were an accelerant to our product development and go-to-market. As a result of the program, our product roadmap is being shaped by decades of HR and recruiting experience,” says Kerry Wang, CEO/Co-founder, Searchlight. Innovative companies like Searchlight continue to contribute to the mission of PeopleTech Partners with their achievements and strategic impact on people technology and within the People Management industry.   

About PeopleTech Partners

PeopleTech Partners is a network of business leaders investing time in People Tech. People Technology is the full range of software platforms and services that enable organizations to support the talent that drives success. It’s critical for founders to have a partnership with people who represent the customers they want to serve. PeopleTech advisors have in-depth experience as decision-makers who purchase People Tech; we share insights and give feedback at the right time to fuel success. 

For more information, please visit peopletechpartners.com.

Source: PeopleTech Partners