PAIRIN, a Denver-based social enterprise company with a mission to make education relevant and hiring equitable, has raised $2.1 million in a Series A funding round to accelerate the growth of its platform.
The round was led by social impact investor New Markets Venture Partners, along with New U Venture Partners, JFFLabs, and existing investors Village Capital, and Independent Spectrum, LLC participating.
Founded in 2012, PAIRIN offers a platform that enables individuals and organizations to reach their maximum effectiveness by providing them the right data, tools and resources. The company uses friendly science to personalize career exploration, hiring and professional development for education, workforce programs and governments. It helps government to connect residents to careers, workforce developers to remove barriers to employment, educators to prepare students for lifelong success, and businesses to find and keep great people through its cloud-based workforce process management system.
Talking about the company and the new funds it received, Michael Simpson, Co-founder and CEO, PAIRIN, said,
“Everyone should have the opportunity to define their own future, regardless of their background. During this period in our nation’s history, supporting the organizations and professionals helping people along their career journey is more important than ever.”
“We’ve worked tirelessly alongside our partners in government and education to simplify the processes by which Americans enter and excel in the workforce. This funding will allow us to accelerate rollouts and key features that help connect people to critical resources, education and career assistance in an increasingly volatile job market. The enthusiasm and support we’ve received from investors are indicative of the widespread need for this technology.”
According to The Bureau of Labor Statistics, unemployment rates in the US have spiked to more than 14 percent, with over 40 million Americans found themselves out of job, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. PAIRIN’s My Journey platform helps these citizens, and others, achieve meaningful employment through partnerships with state governments, workforce agencies and education systems.
Commenting on the company, Dre Bennin, Managing Partner of NUVP, said,
“New U Venture Partners (NUVP) is committed to investing in organizations that connect talent to opportunity, and PAIRIN’s data-driven approach will support that effort on a large scale. By helping students and adult learners identify skills gap and using data to demonstrate to employers the value of soft skills, PAIRIN can significantly increase ROI for job seekers and businesses – a win-win for workforce development.”
PAIRIN claimed its My Journey platform has dramatically increased its rollout in the past few months, with large workforce networks and state governments leading the way in adoption and interest.
Yigal Kerszenbaum, Managing Director of the Employment Technology Fund at JFFLabs, also commented on the funding saying,
“PAIRIN is at the intersection of innovation, technology and workforce development at a time where unemployment is at an all-time high and economic mobility is out of reach for millions more. ETF@JFFLabs is excited to invest in PAIRIN as they expand the My Journey platform to other states, helping millions of people on their path to finding a meaningful career.”
Meanwhile, PAIRIN said the new funding will help support the company’s rapid growth and hiring initiatives. It plans to grow its workforce by 33 percent in the coming year with new hires in engineering, design and project management roles, among others.
