RiseSmart Announces $3 Million in Equity Financing; Talent Management Startup Has Raised $11.85 Million to Date

SAN JOSE, Calif., Dec. 15, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- RiseSmart, a leading provider of next-generation outplacement and recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solutions, today announced that it has completed $3 million in equity financing to continue its aggressive expansion into new markets and further the development of its industry-leading technology platform for bi-directional matching of jobs and job candidates.  The talent management startup has raised an aggregate of $11.85 million from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP), Storm Ventures and angel investors since its launch in 2007.

"RiseSmart provides talent management solutions at the two most critical talent transition points: joining and leaving an organization.  We leverage a common technology platform to ensure next-generation efficiency and superior results for our clients' recruitment and outplacement programs," said Sanjay Sathe, RiseSmart founder and CEO. "Through our methodology, we have consistently reduced time-to-hire for our recruitment clients and time-to-placement for our outplacement clients.  This is ultimately the key to our continued growth and success. We are grateful for the support of NVP and Storm Ventures as we work aggressively to expand our market position."

"RiseSmart has developed recruitment and outplacement solutions that are truly unique in the talent management space – utilizing its proprietary technology which leverages Web 2.0 and social networking features and capabilities to provide a richer and more compelling solution to its growing roster of Fortune 500 enterprise clients," said Venkat Mohan, general partner at NVP.

"RiseSmart's management team has maintained a laser focus on listening to its customers and consistently exceeding their expectations," said Sanjay Subhedar, managing director of Storm Ventures. "This additional funding will enable RiseSmart to continue its growth and expansion to better serve its enterprise clients."

RiseSmart's solutions include:

• Transition Concierge®.  RiseSmart's next-generation outplacement solution, Transition Concierge leverages a blend of technology and personal interaction to optimize time-to-placement for laid-off workers.  Powered by proprietary matching software, RiseSmart delivers highly personalized job leads, as well as other job search tools, to eligible employees on a weekly basis.  Laid-off workers have access to one-on-one assistance from trained Transition Specialists throughout the job-search process.  The result is that Transition Concierge puts workers into new jobs twice as fast as the national average, at about half the cost.
• Recruit Concierge™.  A comprehensive recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) solution, Recruit Concierge offers full life-cycle recruiting to meet all of an organization's hiring needs, including candidate sourcing and recruitment process consulting.  Recruit Concierge leverages proprietary matching software to identify candidates for job openings. RiseSmart's seamless and integrated process is customized to meet each customer's specific needs.
• SmartRedeploy™.  A Software-as-a-Service solution, SmartRedeploy leverages RiseSmart matching technology to help companies quickly and efficiently identify candidates for potential reassignment, slashing layoff and recruiting costs while retaining top talent.

About RiseSmart

RiseSmart provides next-generation outplacement and recruitment process outsourcing solutions. The company leverages a common technology platform, proven methodologies, and one-on-one support to help employers with their workforce strategy, and displaced employees with their career strategy.  RiseSmart drives significant ROI to organizations by offering affordable pricing, reducing severance costs and unemployment taxes for outplacement services and reducing cycle time and cost of hire for recruiting services.  For more information, visit www.RiseSmart.com.

About Storm Ventures

Storm Ventures focuses on seed and early stage information technology companies, particularly Information Technology and Networking companies. The team at Storm Ventures is focused on bandwidth, mobility, and intelligence as the key drivers transforming the way information is being used, shared, delivered, and protected. For more information, visit www.stormventures.com.

About Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a leading global investment firm that manages more than $3.7 billion in capital. Headquartered in Palo Alto, California, NVP has subsidiaries in Mumbai and Bengaluru, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S. and global companies across a wide range of sectors including: information technology, business services, financial services, infrastructure, technology enabled services and consumer. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 49 years and has funded nearly 500 companies since inception. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.

RiseSmart, the RiseSmart logo, Transition Concierge, SmartRedeploy, Recruit Concierge, Talent Assurance, Job Assurance, SmartConsult, SmartSource, and Transitioning Talent. Changing Lives. are trademarks of RiseSmart, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE RiseSmart