Firms recently announcing funding rounds include Qwick, Beekeeper, CloudPay, Drive My Way, WorkTorch, UpSmith, Remotebase and Ping.

Qwick

Phoenix-based Qwick closed a $40 million series B funding round. The candidate discovery platform connects workers with food and beverage shifts in the hospitality industry.

“We are proud to have facilitated over 500,000 hospitality shifts to date, and we plan to double that output in a matter of months as we match a growing number of businesses and service industry professionals for shifts in more and more cities around the country,” Qwick co-founder and CEO Jamie Baxter said.

The round was led by private equity firm Tritium Partners with participation from current investors Album VC, Kickstart, Desert Angels and Revolutions’ Rise of the Rest Seed Fund.

Beekeeper

Beekeeper, a platform with functionality in worker onboarding, collaboration and engagement, announced a $50 million series C funding round, bringing total funding to date of more than $100 million.

“This round of investment validates Beekeeper’s mission to tackle this disconnect and overcome the crippling status quo it creates,” Beekeeper co-founder and CEO Cristian Grossmann said.

New investors such as EGS Beteiligungen and Kreos Capital joined the round alongside existing investors Energize, Thayer, SwissCanto, Keen Ventures, Alpana Ventures, Edenred Capital and Verve Capital.

The San Francisco-based company has more than 200 team members across the US and Europe.

Beekeeper also announced several new hires: Kevin McKeown, chief revenue officer; Sarah Moore, chief marketing officer; Shawn Lim, VP of customer success; and Craig Bumpus, board member.

CloudPay

Employee payroll software firm CloudPay announced a $50 million funding round with Runway Growth Capital and The Olayan Group leading the round.

“We believe that CloudPay is at an inflection point in their growth that makes it a great time to invest strategically,” said Nicholas Briody, director of direct private equity, Americas, The Olayan Group. “They are well positioned to capitalize on the needs of the modern workplace for payroll and payments services.”

CloudPay is based in London.

Drive My Way

Drive My Way, a Cleveland-based trucker recruitment platform, announced in a LinkedIn post that it closed a $4.4 million Series A funding round. Venture investment firm First Analysis led the round, with participation from existing investors JumpStart Ventures and JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund in addition to M7 Holdings.

“First Analysis’ operating resources and experience working with leading companies in the technology/SaaS sector make them an ideal partner,” said Beth Potratz, president and CEO of Drive My Way.

“To compete in this talent market, employers must pursue in-demand candidates more like they’re consumers and meet them where they are,” Potratz said. “Truck drivers are no exception.”

The company was founded in 2014.

WorkTorch

WorkTorch, a candidate discovery platform based in Wichita, Kansas, announced a $2.2 million seed round, bringing total funding to more than $4 million. The round was led by Tenzing Capital.

The company, which launched in April 2021, has a roster of more than 40,000 service industry applicants looking for jobs. Its clients include Dunkin’ Donuts and Homewood Suites by Hilton. WorkTorch is led by Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall.

“WorkTorch is growing because we empower both sides of the employment spectrum — the career seeker and the hiring company,” Gladney said. “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.”

The company recently rebranded to WorkTorch from QuickHire.

UpSmith Inc.

UpSmith Inc., a Dallas-based firm that provides a video-based recruitment tool for builders, announced a $3.3 million pre-seed funding round.

The round includes investments from a16z and Asymmetric Capital Partners. Angel investors Dennis Muilenburg, former Boeing CEO, and Thumbtack co-founder Sander Daniels also participated in the round.

Remotebase

Remotebase, which provides pre-vetted teams of developers that will be ready to operate within 24 hours, announced a $2.1 million funding round and the launch of a developer hiring tool called Talently.

The pre-series A round was co-led by Indus Valley Capital and Hustlefund Ventures.

Remotebase, based in San Mateo, California, was founded by Qasim Asad Salam and Talha Masood. It grew from just 11 engineers to more than 60,000 within 2 ½ years.

Ping

Ping, a payment platform for freelancers, announced a $15 million seed funding round. Ping was founded in 2022 and enables digital payments globally for remote workers, contractors and freelancers. The company, which was originally focused on payment challenges in Latin America, also enables workers to convert their money into cryptocurrencies.

Freelancers are able to invoice talent platforms through Ping.

‘’Ping is the perfect solution for freelancers to get paid and for gig economy platforms like Braintrust, freelancer.com, Upwork to offer to their users,’’ said Pablo Orlando, co-founder and CEO. “We established a platform that ultimately helps democratize access to higher-paid jobs as a result of remote work. Ping enables freelancers and contractors globally to see the possibility of earning in dollars and saving in an account in the USA as the highest possible dream.”

Investors in the round include Y-Combinator, Race Capital, BlockTower, Danhua Capital, Signum Capital and Goat Capital.