TechCrunch 50 company Jibe (formerly LocalBacon), has raised $6 million in Series A funding led by Draper Fisher Jurvetson and DFJ Gotham with existing investors, Polaris Venture Partners, Zelkova Ventures, Lerer Ventures, Thrive Capital and Stanford University Endowment participating in the round. This brings the company’s total funding to $7 million.
Jibe is a next-generation job board that leverages Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to help job seekers find the best positions in the job market.
On Jibe, job seekers sign in with Facebook Connect. The platform will then pull in their work and education history from their Facebook profile and from LinkedIn to pre-populate their Jibe profile. Then for every job posting, they can see if they are connected to anyone at that company. Jibe allows members to message those people directly to ask for a recommendation or job advice.
Jibe uses a credit system that allows applicants to apply for jobs. Applicants can earn credits by linking their Jibe account to their various social networks, broadcasting their job search, sending private messages through the system, or updating their work history profile. On the enterprise side, Jibe allows companies to add a social layer to the evaluation and vetting process.
The company says that more than 700,000 visitors engaged with Jibe’s social recruiting platform in April, resulting in thousands of interviews. Companies hiring on Jibe include Microsoft, MTV, Amazon, Intel, American Express, and Bank of America among others, and Jibe has signed up 25 percent of the Fortune 50 as clients.
Jibe, which faces competition from both LinkedIn and BranchOut, plans to use the funding to build
out its engineering team, expand its product, and further develop its mobile offerings.