Photo: Costin Tudor, CEO of WhereWeWork.com platforms
The MENA region arm of Romania’s largest community for employees is expanding its operations following a €1 million round of late-seed funding led by Bulgarian investment fund, Sofia Angels Ventures. Known in Romania as Undelucram, the community is renowned as one of the largest in the CEE region, and its regional platform, A3malouna, is set to benefit from the recent round of investment.
Amassing over 200,000 users in the region during its first year of operation, A3malouna.com will be part of the plans to drive forward the Undelucram.ro business model, which will include the development of machine learning and AI algorithms. Aiming to capitalize on accelerating economic growth and the potential of the working population in the region, the company anticipates a three-fold increase in users, to 600,000 in the coming year. The investment funding is also expected to be used for further expansion across CEE, Asia and Africa, with the aim to have more than 4 million users and a thousand customers by the end of 2024.
Undelucram.ro was launched in 2011 by entrepreneur, Costin Tudor, and has become the regional network of online employer branding and recruitment platforms WhereWeWork.com. It provides information about employers, salaries, benefits and how job interviews are conducted. Undelucram.ro has the largest online employee community in Romania and one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, with over 1.5 million employees on the platform regionally.
The business has so far attracted four rounds of investments totalling €2,000,000, the earlier rounds being in 2017, 2019 and 2021. The lead investor in the most recent round was Sofia Angels Ventures, a Bulgarian investment fund, which invested €400,000. They were joined by investment fund, Gapminder VC (€200,000, third investment in Undelucram.ro), Head North (€200,000), technology start-up co-investment platform, SeedBlink (€100,000, follow-on), and a business angel (€100,000).
The company began expanding outside of Romania in 2019, initially in Central and Eastern Europe, and from 2022, outside of Europe. The network currently has operations in 14 countries: Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Greece, Ukraine, Moldova, Czech Republic, Poland and the MENA area; Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
WhereWeWork platforms are in local languages and are tailored to each country. The community operates on a business-to-business model based on an annual subscription and the service is available in both the Employer Branding and Online Recruitment areas. The platform is based on machine learning algorithms and aggregated user data, matching the interests of candidates in the job market with those of employers.
Costin Tudor, CEO of WhereWeWork.com platforms said, “This is our fourth investment round, and we are glad to have long-standing partners with us; partners who have trusted us for the second and third time and who know that a dream like labour market transparency can take years. We will continue to expand regionally, to invest in machine learning and AI, but above all we will continue to provide information that really makes a difference for our users whether we are talking about employees, future employees or employers.”
Representing the lead funders, Milen Ivanov, Managing Partner of Sofia Angels Ventures remarked, “Undelucram has developed a business with a growth model with very high potential for scaling in the HR field, thanks to developing a new, transparent way of interacting between employers and employees. We really liked the fact that the team is very savvy in digital marketing services, but also in technology and HR, takes risks and wants to grow fast. We believe that this investment can give us a good return on investment, the development plan is realistic and validated by the market.”
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About A3malouna.com
A3malouna.com is part of the WhereWeWork.com platform network which has one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe, with over 1.5 million employees on the platform regionally. The platform provides job seekers with information about employers and provides effective tools for employer branding and targeted recruitment. Thanks to machine learning and AI algorithms, the platform also supports individual users with additional personalized content and tools. A3malouna.com operates across six countries in the MENA region, with 200,000 registered users.
About Sofia Angels Ventures
Sofia Angels Ventures is a €13 million venture capital fund, backed by the European Investment Fund, co-investing alongside angel investors, family offices and other private investors and funds. The fund focuses on pre-seed and seed stage technology start-ups, predominantly from Bulgaria, South East Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, but with a vision to operate across Europe and globally. Sofia Angels Ventures is backed by InnovFin Equity, with financial support from the European Union under the Horizon 2020 programme and the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI) set up under the Investment Plan for Europe. The aim of the EFSI is to help support the financing and implementation of profitable investments in the European Union and to ensure increased access to finance.
About GapMinder
GapMinder is a EUR 50 million venture capital fund that invests in technology companies created in Romania and Central Europe, growing rapidly internationally and in the Seed or Series A phase. GapMinder partners have a direct approach as investors, helping companies grow through strategic consulting and direct involvement in the operational organization, corporate governance, and financial discipline. GapMinder’s portfolio includes companies such as FintechOS, TypingDNA, DruidAI, Cyscale, Deepstash, SmartDreamers, Soleadify, Machinations, Frisbo, Innoship.io, Cartloop. GapMinder is co-financed by the 2014-2020 Competitiveness Operational Program.
About SeedBlink
SeedBlink is an equity management and tech specialized venture investment platform that enables private investors to fund European tech startups and scale-ups alongside established institutional investors.
SeedBlink Crowd SA is registered in the Register of the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), under number PJR28FSFPR/400001 as of 03.11.2022 with an EU passport as per European Securities and Market Authority (ESMA) register of crowdfunding services providers. Contact at email: press@seedblink.com .
