According to research from Korn Ferry, the disparity between demand and supply for engineering talent in the world of tech will balloon to 85 million unfilled positions by the year 2030. A startup that believes it can stem that tide with a more inclusive, global approach is announcing a big fundraise to continue building out its platform.
Turing, which uses artificial intelligence to source, evaluate, hire, onboard and then manage engineers remotely in a bigger platform that it calls the "Talent Cloud", has raised $87 million, a Series D round of financing that values the startup at $1 billion. WestBridge Capital is leading the round, with previous backer Foundation Capital; new investor StepStone Group; and AltaIR Capital, strategic backer HR Tech Investments. The company opened up a SAFE note at a $4 billion valuation after the round was oversubscribed.
The funding came on the back of strong growth for Turing. Demand for engineers in far-flung parts of the world who could not or did not want to relocate increased. Jonathan Siddharth told me that the total pool of candidates has grown 9x to 1 million engineers and developers from 140 countries in the last year, with that pool either looking for projects or already engaged in them. When the company announced $32 million in funding, it said it had 180,000 developers on the platform. He said it covers 100 technologies and 15 job titles, ranging from entry-level roles all the way up to engineering directors and CTO candidates.
Full-stack engineers, those who specialize in front-end or back-end languages, and site reliability engineers are popular requests. Turing will expand into adjacent areas like project management, paving the way for an upcoming product where companies can engage entire teams on Turing, rather than individuals that are potentially managed as teams.
The platform is being used by customers from technology companies to non-tech companies. They include Johnson & Johnson, Dell, Rivian, and VillageMD.
Everyone is racing to reap the value of living in a remote-first world.
Turing was founded on some basic premises about hiring and remote work, which has since been shifted and altered by Covid-19. Businesses built infrastructure to encourage people to stay there for as many hours as possible, with free and excellent food at all hours, pool tables and other diversions, even though working remotely was occasionally accepted.
This played out in entrenched ideas about office culture, but also impacted recruitment and hiring, as you had to go through a major visa process to get a job. You were required to relocate to specific tech hubs more often than not. This meant big strain on regional infrastructure, rent and social make-up of cities and towns.
With Covid-19 changing the game, we are collectively asking ourselves if all that was necessary in order to do work and do it well.
Turing's platform is providing a resounding "no" to those questions.
The reasons are obvious, he said. These are examples of companies going remote. You can now tap into a planetary pool of engineers, and smart people are looking where others are not. We have more proven success of distributed teams.
It is not easy to manage engineers remotely, you need to build a network of engineers, figure out how to evaluate them, and stay in touch with them. Turing has built a platform that helps those at the company with hard and soft skills. Siddharth said that most people come on board for fixed-term projects, but some follow the path to taking on more extended, even permanent, roles at organizations. There are other companies addressing the talent gap.
Turing has built more of a specialized end-to-end needs that arise around engaging them, which makes it easier to find engineers wherever they might be. It is similar to Superside, which raised money for its designer and creative talent hiring and management platform last week.
John Avirett, partner at StepStone Group, said that Turing's ambitious vision of enabling fantastic opportunities for developers across the globe is inspiring. The Intelligent Talent Cloud is a remarkable way to make lasting connections beyond inking the contract, and they are cultivating the process into long term career planning for the individual and the companies who use them.
Ashu Garg of Foundation Capital said that buffing has changed the face and perception of the industry.
