Randrr, a Jacksonville, Fla.-based job search platform, today announced the acquisition of Anthology, a Seattle startup that developed an anonymous career-matching platform.
Anthology, previously known as Poachable, helped match potential employees with an employer who both had already expressed interest in each other — a mix between LinkedIn and Tinder for passive job candidates. Founders Tom Leung and Ian Shafer originally launched the company in 2012 as Yabbly, a platform for product-oriented reviews and Q&As, before going through a series of pivots.
Anthology grew to as many as 12 employees, but Leung and Shafer stepped out of their operating roles at the company in early 2016 after automating the platform. They have run the business with a few part-time contractors since then.
Leung told GeekWire that the Randrr deal is “for the IP, technology, membership, and customers.”
“All sides were pleased with the outcome,” he noted.
Founded in 2015, randrr bills itself as a “career insights platform” that helps job applicants sort through potential opportunities and improve their marketability.
“Our mission at randrr is rooted in serving people in the pursuit of their dream job and Anthology will accelerate our ability to achieve that vision,” randrr CEO Terry Terhark said in a statement.
Leung and Shafer had raised $3.3 million in total for both Yabbly and Anthology. Investors included Vulcan Capital, Dawn Lepore, Rudy Gadre, Andy Liu, Serena Glover, Dave Song, Chase Franklin, and others.
Before starting Anthology, Leung worked at Google, Marchex and Microsoft. Shafer is a former Amazon and Lockerz engineer. The co-founders both moved to Switzerland in mid-2016. Leung is a director of product management at YouTube and Shafer is an engineer at Google.
“I decided to move here first in the summer of 2016 — I think I and my family were ready for a new adventure,” Leung said. “Then as Ian was deciding between a few job options, he got an offer and his family decided to move here a few months later. We still watch many Hawks games together. Not sure what this coming season will look like.”
