This firm’s original name was restrictive, so it made a big domain upgrade
Gem’s original name restricted its services.
With advances in technology, the process of hiring the right person for a role ought to be simpler than ever ahead of. Still, CNBC recently noted that job openings have soared to 10.9 million in the US as firms struggle to fill vacancies.
Many entrepreneurs have focused on the recruitment process to try to bring fresh software, tools, or innovation to tackle a plethora of problems that have led to this abundance of vacancies. The likes of Phenom, Lattice, and ZipRecruiter are all Unicorn firms, valued at $1 billion or more, helping to create a fresh experience for recruiters.
Another firm that has recently joined the billion-dollar club is Gem. This software developer has produced a powerful recruiting platform that is aimed at modernizing the entire hiring process.
Gem originally launched as ZenSourcer in 2017, using the ZenSourcer.com domain name. The firm was co-founded by Steven Bartel, an early Dropbox employee who was influential in growing the Dropbox team drastically, and Nick Bushak, a former Facebook engineer.
Together, the pair guided ZenSourcer to early success, with the firm raising $2 million in seed funding just months following launching. Early investors included Y Combinator and Dropbox’s co-founders.
Dropbox, Slack, and Robinhood were among early ZenSourcer clients, but the ZenSourcer brand name was restrictive. Potential clients thought the firm simply focused on candidate sourcing, limiting the ambitious founders, so ZenSourcer transitioned to Gem. CEO Steve Bartel told Business Insider:
“We hope with our name brand, we hope to start getting people to think of us as more than a sourcing product. The idea that we can expand our product to help firms build relationships with people over time is something we want to move towards.”
The rebrand, which was disclosed along with a $9 million Series A funding round in 2019, was preceded by the buyout of the Gem.com domain name. Gem.com was originally registered in 1992 and previously used by the Gemini Facilities Core Group.
Gem purchased Gem.com in February 2019. A source told me at the time that the domain was sold for a seven-figure fee paid in installments via Escrow.com.
Since switching to Gem and Gem.com, the firm has developed its product offering further and now boasts over 800 clients that have made over 5,000 hires via Gem.
In the last year, Gem has reportedly tripled its annual recurring revenue (ARR). Growth leads to growth, and the firm recently disclosed it raised $100 million in Series C funding at a valuation of $1.2 billion.
