WorkTorch, a fast-growing service industry career platform, has recently announced that it has raised $2.2 million in seed round led by Tenzing Capital out of Wichita, Kansas.
The round also saw participation from existing investors MATH Venture Partners, Sandalphon Capital, KCRise Fund, Sixty8 Capital, Ruthless for Good Fund (RFG Fund), Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, and angel investor Gene Camarena, with new investments from Bloomberg Beta, Graham & Walker Venture Fund, GROWKS, New Community Transformation Fund – Denver, Mid America Angels and Women’s Capital Connection Network, and angel investor Jennifer Risher.
With this investment, the firm plans to launch in several new cities desperate for service industry employees – including Chicago, Illinois; Denver, Colorado; Kansas City, Kansas and Missouri; Dallas, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee; and Atlanta, Georgia.
Founded by two African American sisters–Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall, WorkTorch provides a service industry career platform giving business such features as job postings, candidate screenings, scheduling features, candidate matching, talent management tools, and more.
Based in Wichita, Kansas, the startup currently has a roster of over 40,000 service industry applicants actively looking for jobs. Today, it has more than 60 paying corporate clients (from midsize to national service companies like Dunkin’ Donuts and Homewood Suites by Hilton).
Speaking about the company, Co-founder of WorkTorch, Deborah Gladney, said:
WorkTorch is growing because we empower both sides of the employment spectrum – the career seeker and the hiring company. We connect service industry professionals to the careers they want, as well as provide company support to ensure that their new employees feel empowered and nurtured.
Since launching in April 2021, the platform use has grown exponentially – with upwards of 1,000 scheduled interviews a month.
Adding further about the platform, Co-founder of WorkTorch, Angela Muhwezi-Hall, said:
Our country relies on skilled service workers, but existing career platforms continue to overlook them. WorkTorch is listening to the people in this sector. And it’s working. Today 60% of WorkTorch job seekers are happy with their jobs. The industry ‘happiness’ average is a mere 30%.
The latest funding comes as October employment numbers show people are leaving their careers faster than new hires are coming in the door.
Commenting on the fundraising, Founder & General Partner of Tenzing Capital, Josh Oeding, said:
Our focus at Tenzing Capital is finding and supporting go-to-market acceleration companies. This is our second time investing in WorkTorch. The WorkTorch team is taking on internal growth and operational challenges with high levels of excellence — and creating long-term business client relationships that bring value to this needed space.
Recently, the company rebranded from QuickHire to WorkTorch to highlight its new capabilities, including cutting-edge recruiting and retention tools for hiring managers and career resources for service-industry professionals.
