ReferStar Secures $1.625 Million in Series A Funding

DUBLIN, Sept. 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- ReferStar Ltd, today announces that it secured $1.625 Million Series A funding.  ReferStar is a Software as a Service (Saas) platform that automates and extends the reach of employers by empowering employees, customers, alumni and suppliers to use social media networks to provide targeted talent acquisition through referrals.

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Leveraging the major social media networks such as LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook, ReferStar offers employers two different ways to expand their talent acquisition process.   The white-label platform automates employee referrals and streamlines referral acquisition efforts via the social media networks of employees, dramatically reducing costs and improving the efficiency of employers' recruitment efforts.  The ReferStar Public Marketplace provides an online hub, allowing anyone who has signed up as Referrer to promote any available job from ReferStar and earn a referral fee for sourcing the right candidate. 

The A Round funding was led by Granicus Ventures, a Dublin, Ireland and Dallas, Texas based private equity group.  ReferStar intends to use the proceeds for international expansion and to accelerate product innovation and enhancements.  In connection with this investment, Sean Melly, Chairman of Powerscourt Capital Partners, advisors on the fundraising, and Johnny Fortune, Chairman of Pegasus Capital, have joined the Board.

"With this funding we are positioned to accelerate innovation using big data and predictive analytics to enhance the quality and quantity of referrals for employers," says Morgan Pierce, CEO of ReferStar.  "ReferStar enables employers to easily mine their social media connections to find the right talent, wherever they may be globally," she continued.

According to research from the CareerXRoads 2013 Source of Hire Report, 90% of hires that are attributed to referrals were sourced from employees, and referrals account for the largest percentage of new hires (24.5%), followed by career sites (23.4%) and job boards (18%) rounding out the top three.  Corporate customers and small business are keen to mine their social networks for high quality referrals.

"At Deloitte, our people play a major role in the success of our firm. We believe solutions like ReferStar will help us to achieve our goal of attracting and recruiting twice as many top candidates through referral next year.  We know our high caliber employees will seek other like-minded candidates," says Rose Mary Hogan, Resourcing Manager at Deloitte Ireland.  Deloitte's 1,200 people in Dublin, Cork and Limerick provide audit, tax, consulting, and corporate finance services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries.

ENDS

About ReferStar

ReferStar Ltd. automates and extends the reach of Employers by empowering their employees, customers, alumni and suppliers to use social media networks to provide targeted talent acquisition through the referral process.  A powerful SaaS based platform, ReferStar tracks the candidate workflow, and provides a referral fee for successful hires, dramatically reducing costs and improving the efficiency of recruitment efforts.  ReferStar is based in Dublin, Ireland.  For further information please visit: www.referstar.com

About Granicus Ventures
Granicus Ventures is a Dublin, Ireland and Dallas, Texas based private equity group.

About Powerscourt Capital Partners
Powerscourt Capital Partners is a private equity and venture capital boutique focused on early stage technology related opportunities based in Dublin, Ireland.

For more information please contact:

Richard Cook, Champion Communications

(UK) +44 (0) 207 637 2587             email: richard.cook@championcomms.com

Michelle Murphy, CLARIFY Communications

(IRL) +353 (0) 86 8537806              email: michelle.murphy@clarify.ie

Media Contact:Sue Spiner, ReferStar, +353876381771, sue@referstar.com

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SOURCE ReferStar Ltd