A subsidiary of global staffing provider Recruit Co. Ltd. Invested $1.5 million in Alignable, a Boston-based company that describes itself as a social network for local business. Alignable reported that it’s active in more than 8,000 communities. It will use the investment to accelerate user growth, engagement and for hiring at its headquarters.

Recruit’s subsidiary, Recruit Strategic partners, has invested in a number of technology firms, including 99designs, bench, Docusign, Kabbage and Shipbob. The firm 99designs is part of the crowdsourcing segment of the human cloud. In addition, Recruit is the owner of job board Indeed.com, which it acquired in 2012.

The investment brings total funding raised by Alignable to $13.5 million.