Employee Referral Management Startup Zao Secures $1.3 Million in Funding

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., June 29, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Zao, a unique technology platform that helps employers manage referral programs and leverage social media tools to quickly find and hire quality staff, today announced that the company secured $1.3 million in capital in its first funding round. The fast-growing startup attracted significant investor attention, led by Oren Zeev, Founding Partner at Orens Capital and former General Partner at Apax Partners. Zao plans to use the fresh infusion of capital to accelerate product development and expand its U.S. presence.

"Zao offers a unique value proposition in the multibillion-dollar recruiting industry," Zeev observed. "With an extremely disruptive service, Zao has the potential to continue to gain traction and fundamentally change the way employers handle their employee referral programs."

Zeev, who led an investor round that included other seasoned technology sector specialists, entrepreneurs and investors, now joins the Zao Board of Directors. He has invested and served as a Board Member or Chairman for numerous successful startups, including Chegg, Infolinks, Duda Mobile, Houzz and other groundbreaking new companies. Other investors joining the round include Oren Dobronsky, Founding Partner at Orens Capital, Zohar Gilon, Gary Ginsberg, EVP, Corporate Marketing and Communications, Time Warner, Donald Katz, CEO of Audible, Robin Klein and Saul Klein, Partners, The Accelerator Group [TAG], Richard Sarnoff, Senior Advisor at KKR, Ori Sasson, Partner at Primera Capital, and Dr. Ayal Shenhav of Shenhav & Co. Advocates, which also acts as the company's counsel.

"We're incredibly excited to have Oren on the Board and such a great team of investors," said Ziv Eliraz, founder and CEO of Zao. "Their experience will be a huge asset as we work together to improve the best employee referral management platform in the industry, and we are fortunate to have partners with such knowledge and proven track record of success as a resource."

Zao helps companies capitalize on the best source of new hires, referrals from existing staff and trusted others familiar with the business and industry, providing a fast, effective way to generate and manage referrals. The Zao platform integrates Facebook and LinkedIn, deploying an advanced search algorithm that allows referrers to quickly review suggested candidates within their social networks and make recommendations to employers with a single click. Find out more at www.zao.com.

About Zao
Zao helps companies hire well, fast by providing a platform that enables hirers to create a job opening, set a reward amount and forward the posting to their entire network or specific individuals and track referrals and applicants on an intuitive dashboard. Zao allows potential referrers to automatically search their social networks for qualified candidates and make a referral in just one click. Zao makes it easy to reward internal and external contacts who assist companies in making successful hires. Learn more about Zao by visiting www.zao.com.

CONTACT: Ziv Eliraz, +1-917-688-4260, [email protected]

SOURCE Zao