The Number One Digital Employability Platform in Southeast Asia has secured funding from major corporations and governments in Thailand, China, and Hong Kong
GetLinks recently closed a US$10m round of funding and is preparing to complete its Series B by 2022. With financial backing from both the public and private sector, GetLinks, which is already the leading HR tech firm in Asia, is positioned to help as many people as possible in upskilling and reskilling themselves not only for Digital and ESG transformation opportunities, but also to raise awareness in the global market about young talent in SEA. GetLinks grew 300% in 2021, despite the pandemic; they expect to achieve an even greater impact in 2022.
Keenan Kwok, Co-founder and CEO of GetLinks, revealed, “All the investors and business stakeholders of GetLinks have the common long term vision to help as many people as possible, having their respective exposure in the market, we strive to ready the next generation to work together with emerging technologies.” This financing round was led by new and existing supportive strategic shareholders like 500 Startups; Mynavi, a multi-billion dollar Japanese HR tech giant; Hong Kong’s SCMP/CPJobs; and Asia’s leading family offices. This also marks the first time ever that a startup has been co-invested by three governments (Hong Kong-Cyberport, China-HengQin, and Thailand-InnoSpace) to support their future work and education mission. GetLinks’ continually supportive shareholders include SCG, Alibaba, and SEEK (parent company of JobsDB and JobStreet).
GetLinks expects to help over 1,000 companies build teams and leverage their network to expand across the region despite market slowdowns and travel restrictions. They also have many new technology and partnership initiatives that are powering talent to upskill and find earning opportunities faster. Some of these new technology advancements include an AI Job-Board, AI matching solutions, Blockchain-based Digital Public Talent Profiles, LINKS employee benefit Tokens, Payroll and marketplace SAAS, and an employee benefits marketplace. GetLinks is a one-stop employability platform positioned to grow with modern talent.
Covid-19 has forced digital acceleration across every industry and the war for digital talent is more competitive than ever. The supply/demand gap for talent in Thailand and SEA is a major risk factor for sustainable growth. Either companies have to train more graduates or re-skill more of their existing workforce. Thus, GetLinks business is strong as more clients seek their expertise to build and shift toward a skilled digital workforce while remaining competitive.
GetLinks stays ahead globally on opportunities for talent in Southeast Asia. Kwok recently stated, “GetLinks is committed to investing in technologies and partnerships to bring more earning opportunities and financial solutions to our young talent.” The available opportunities drive consciousness, awareness and incentives for fresh talent to want to upskill themselves, and GetLinks’ promise is to ensure they edge closer to their equivalent global pay scale. In line with this mission, GetLinks recently launched the world’s first blockchain-based global decentralised remuneration payment protocol.
Kwok explains, “HR has hit the biggest global reset in the last century. This gives both companies and talent a chance to rethink their strategy as the markets slowly open back up.” GetLinks core platform offering is different from traditional HR Tech job boards where they take advertising for job posts and hope the suitable candidate applies. GetLinks Marketplace platform charges on a success-based model where clients only pay after they hire and onboard their candidates. GetLinks’ technologies lean on serving talent, hence they have one of the biggest digital talent databases. It’s important for clients to know what talent they want and be able to articulate it through a clearly written job post so their AI can do proper matching. With technologies and sizable databases, GetLinks is able to charge nearly half the price of traditional recruitment agencies.
GetLinks was born and chose its operating HQ in Thailand to run its Southeast Asia markets. Hong Kong serves Greater Bay China and East Asian clients. Their 200 employees are spread across 6 of their markets in SEA and East Asia.