Landed Raises Seed Funding
San Francisco: Landed, which provides the first mobile app connecting hourly food and retail workers with local employers, announced today the official launch of its platform which uses engaging video profiles to help candidates stand out, leverages AI technology for matching candidates to jobs and automates much of the hiring process for employers. The company also announced the close of a seed funding round: $1.4M led by Javelin Venture Partners, which has backed the likes of MasterClass and Thumbtack, with participation from Y Combinator, Palm Drive Capital, and key angels.
Vivian Wang founded Landed after working in the retail industry where she saw firsthand the extremely high employee turnover of 130 percent on average. That meant managers had to be constantly recruiting. Landed – which is designed for retail and food businesses – automates much of the hiring process by matching candidates, scheduling interviews, and following up with candidates. It also provides hiring accountability, by tracking each hiring manager’s activity and progress towards hiring goals. For candidates, Landed helps them stand out through engaging video profiles that are much more compelling than paper applications and resumes.
Landed launched its beta solution just as COVID-19 hit the U.S. Fortunately, its strong base of restaurant customers are faring well, increasing their takeout and delivery businesses to offset a decline in in-restaurant dining, and its grocery customers are thriving. The pandemic fueled the need to do more hiring virtually, and Landed’s focus on mobile/video has been a big advantage, enabling the company to continue growing throughout 2020.
“Vivian and the team at Landed have developed a sophisticated AI platform to help the food, retail, and hospitality industries find and hire high-quality candidates with less effort,” said Vivian Cheng of Javelin Venture Partners. “Landed is also well positioned to help businesses tackle their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts by sourcing a larger number of diverse candidates, helping more people land the right job during these difficult times. Vivian is exactly the type of founder we like to back – she has incredible drive and a far-reaching mission of improving the lives of the 90+ million hourly workers across the US.”
As an Asian-American female founder who grew up in Ohio, Wang’s background ranging from financial markets at BlackRock to strategy at multinational retailer Gap Inc. enables her to develop discerning business strategies with deep industry knowledge and a people-first approach.
