Glints, a career development portal for young people in Asia, has raised US$2 million (S$2.7 million) in its latest round of funding.
The funding was led by Golden Equator Capital and Gobi Partners and included Wavemaker Partners and Fresco Capital.
Existing investors East Ventures, Infocomm Investments and Pix Vine Capital, and angel investors, including veteran venture capitalist Darius Cheung, also joined the round of funding.
SPH Media Fund, the corporate venture capital fund of Singapore Press Holdings, had invested in the start-up in an earlier round of funding last year.
"Our goal is to become the No. 1 youth career platform in Asia. We are humbled to have a team of great investors who believe in our vision and are backing us," said Glints co-founder and chief executive officer Oswald Yeo.
"Glints will use the funding for product development and regional expansion, continuing our mission of helping youth to do what they love for their careers and to develop the right skill sets to get great at what they do."
The firm was founded on the premise that many companies struggle to fill entry-level vacancies, as they realise that four-year degrees do not necessarily guarantee the skills they value most.
The mismatch between school curricula and industry requirements is rendering millions of young people unemployable every year by not giving young graduates the right skills that employers are asking for, the start-up said in a statement yesterday.
Glints has revamped its website to help young people discover career paths they will love and develop the right skill sets for them.
It recently launched a new skills tree feature that shows a user the skill sets needed for his dream job, and finds the relevant opportunities and resources such as courses, internships and projects to acquire these skills.
More than 4,000 companies, including large organisations such as United Overseas Bank and Adidas, and start-ups such as Grab and Carousell, have worked with Glints to attract and hire young talent.
Yasmine Yahya
