Mobile Job Service Jobtong.com Scoops RMB28M Series A Funding

Jobtong, a Chinese online recruitment service, has announced an RMB28 million (US$4.55m) round of funding from NetEase Capital, the investment arm of the internet portal and game company.

Jobtong started in 2007 as a sub-forum of Chinese social network Douban for users to post jobs, and now has more than 310,000 members and 100,000 companies which have posted vacancies. Feng Tao, the owner of the sub-forum, says he will leave his post at IBM to run Jobtong.

More than 6,000 mobile internet companies have posted over 30,000 jobs since the company focused on job recruitment for Chinese mobile internet companies and launched a redesigned website earlier this year, according to the company.

Commenting on why the Douban sub-forum is so popular, Feng said, “The group in Douban.com provides a conversation platform and allows users to talk with employers equally by changing the interaction between information and people on traditional recruitment sites into interactions between people and people.”

Traditional online recruitment sites have been increasingly gripped by recruiters, decreasing efficiency, Feng said. “Traditional recruitment sites are sales­-oriented, producing lots of redundant information to lower efficiency, far from meeting the demands of emerging industries.”

Part of the funding will be used for R&D, to provide better user experiences, and the startup will also launch a series of recruitment aid programs, helping premium startups find the right talent, according to Feng.

China’s online job industry has been seeing a new round of fundraising spree this year. LiePin.com, an executive recruiting platform, landed a $70 million Series C in April, and LaGou.com, an internet tech recruitment site, announced Series B funding in August.

Edited by Mike Cormack