Delafield-based Montage Talent Inc. has raised an $8 million series D round and acquired Costa Mesa, California-based GreenJobInterview. The acquisition closed Aug. 31 for an undisclosed price.
Montage also is planning to move to a much larger headquarters in December, said Kurt Heikkinen, president and chief executive officer of the rapidly growing firm.
Montage offers video and voice interviewing software-as-a-service and hiring process tools to large corporations. The company, which was founded in 2010, counts Capital One, Samsung Group, Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV and Siemens AG among its clients. It is hiring 100,000 employees for FedEx for the upcoming holiday season,
GreenJobInterview also provides video interviewing services for corporations. Its clients include Walmart, MillerCoors, Anthem, Mayo Clinic, Home Depot and Pepsico. Fifteen of GreenJobInterview’s employees will be retained in the transaction, and Montage will maintain a sales and service office in California. GreenJobInterview’s clients will be migrated to Montage’s platform.
“We have a superior technology platform, and so it wasn’t about intellectual property, it was more about acquisition of market share and strategic clients,” Heikkinen said in an interview.
Montage has about 85 employees, and was already outgrowing its 10,500-square-foot headquarters a year ago. The company has been growing at 60 percent per year, and had previously raised a total of $17 million through equity offerings, including a $6 million series C round in 2014. Heikkinen said the new headquarters, just a few buildings away at 440 Wells St. in Delafield, will initially be 13,000 square feet, but will have options to expand to accomodate 250 to 300 employees.
“We will be moving based on our expansion and we anticipate that move to be complete before the end of the year,” he said. “We continue to plan and forecast aggressive growth for the company. And while we don’t anticipate the need for capital, we’ll leverage that capital to support the growth objectives.”
Ann Arbor, Michigan-based private equity firm Plymouth Growth Partners led the $8 million funding round, and Milwaukee-based Baird Capital invested in Montage again. Also part of the round were Michigan-based Beringea, which led the series C round, and Gary Comer Inc., which has invested previously.
“Montage has earned the loyalty of its clients by prioritizing the candidate experience and investing wisely in innovations that deliver unparalleled results. We are very pleased to partner with the Montage team at this critical stage of the company’s growth,” said Evan Ufer, partner at Plymouth Growth Partners.
Montage plans to use the funds to finance the acquisition, increase its global market share and accelerate innovation on its platform.
“This strategic acquisition, amplified by additional capital resources, empowers our company to simultaneously expand our market presence while further investing in our platform to better serve clients, candidates and the marketplace,” Heikkinen said.
“Montage and GreenJobInterview are two recognized category leaders in this space,” said Greg Rokos, founder of GreenJobInterview. “With the acquisition, I am confident our clients can continue to expect innovative technology with world-class client support. While there were a number of potential strategic partners, we chose Montage because of our shared corporate cultures of integrity, professionalism, innovation and outstanding service.”
