JobStreet.com clinches $2-M fresh funding

Online recruitment service JobStreet.com (www.jobstreet.com) has raised $2 million in fresh funding from a group of three investors, bucking current trends that have seen investors shying away from dot-com concerns amid an industry shakedown.

JobStreet.com identified its new investors as Japanese trading firm Sumitomo Corp. and venture-capital companies BI Walden and Intelligent Capital.

The investment comes at a time when many dot-com firms are folding up due to lack of capital infusions, growing competition and dwindling corporate demand in the wake of the global economic slowdown.

"JobStreet.com is one of the few companies in the Internet sector that have proven their business model, with strong revenue and cash flow streams, unlike many of the propositions we have seen in the same space," said Chok Kwee Bee, BI Walden executive director.

The other investors cited the company’s "clear focus" and "deep and well-rounded" management style for its strong performance even as other dot-com enterprises have long closed shop.

JobStreet.com, set up as a single office in Penang, Malaysia in 1995, has grown to 120 staffers in nine offices in India, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. The Singapore and Philippine offices were established in 1999, and four offices in India opened last year.

The company has won several commendations, including the Asia Pacific Multimedia Super Corridor Information Technology and Communications Best Software Applications award last March.

Last year, it was voted the Internet Company of the Year at the @my2000 Malaysia Internet Awards, and founder and chief executive Mark Chang was named Internet CEO of the Year by leading Malaysian business weekly The Edge.

JobStreet.com is also one of a few companies in the region to be awarded the prestigious TRUSTe certificate, the official seal for Internet website privacy and confidentiality.

Most of JobStreet.com’s 8,000 corporate clients are multinationals, including Dell Computer Corp., Intel Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co.

The company has over 25 million page views a month on all its sites. It has a resumé database of 1.2 million jobseekers and processes more than 500,000 applications each month.

JobStreet.com Phils. has more than 500,000 applications each month. It has more than 200,000 resumé deposits, and its website (www.jobstreet.com.ph) records nearly five million page views monthly.

The fresh funding would be used to develop a deeper product portfolio and explore other expansion opportunities, Chang said. "This is not a pure cash-raising exercise as we are already profitable."