In a new funding round, Monster.com raised 137.5 crore in a new funding round led by prominent industry leaders Akash Bhanshali Volrado Venture Partners and Mohandas Pai Meridian Investments with participation from Quess, which acquired Monster. The company is valued close to $100 million 750 crore after the funding round. An option is built-in to expand the round to Rs 137.5 crore, as per an official statement.
The company said that the raised funds will be used to invest in product development and marketing in India, South-east Asia and Middle East markets. We are very excited about the market opportunity in talent acquisition, because people are the most important currency for every business. The last year has been great for the company, with very healthy growth across all metrics. We have an exciting product and business road map in line with our view on how hiring will evolve over the next few years. Sekhar Garisa, CEO of Monster.com, said the participation of visionary investors with long term outlook is a tremendous vote of confidence in Monster's ability and vision in building India's premier talent market place platform.
In 2018, Quess Corp acquired Monster.com's businesses in India, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, UAE and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a strategic investment to strengthen its HR services portfolio by establishing end-to- end offerings across the Employee Lifecycle Management space. Monster had the opportunity to improve its capabilities by building and implementing innovative technology platforms to gain edge over competition, due to Quess market leading presence.
Monster.com is poised to redefine the jobs market by building tech workflows that put the candidate at the center of the universe of innovation and possibilities. The high economic growth will lead to a huge increase in available jobs over the next 2 years, and job seekers will find a high-quality platform to plan their careers here. As employers prepare for a new decade and an employee-first mindset, the platform will help them create a differentiated experience and build deeper relationships with their teams from day one. Mohandas Pai said that Meridian Investments is proud to partner with Monster.com in this exciting and important vertical.
In India, over 60 million active users are on Monster.com. The business, which has a presence in the Middle East and SEA markets, has launched several product innovations over the last three years to improve the experience of recruiters as well as job seekers. The company said that it has seen significant growth across key business metrics like sales 60 per cent growth YOY customer retention 70 per cent growth YOY and active user base 170 per cent growth YOY etc. There has been significant improvement in key health indicators like recruiter searches and consumption.
When Quess acquired Monster for an investment of 145 crore, we embarked on a Digital First journey with the aim of creating long term value for our shareholders and clients. The team and capital infused investment will accelerate the transformation towards building Monster into a category-defining company, said Ajit Isaac, Executive Chairman, Quess Corp., as well as the validation of progress made by the team.