With Over 4 Mn Developers, HackerEarth Aims To Tap Remote Tech Talent Demand

With the pandemic disrupting business operations everywhere, the demand for technology solutions to fix the hurdles in recruitment and hiring is an all-time high, which has naturally pushed the need for tech talent. Technology-focussed skilling and hiring platform HackerEarth claims to be riding on this demand and has announced that its developer base has grown by 120% in FY2020, with over 4 Mn members in its global developer community.

Not only is the demand for tech talent driven by remote hiring, but also the need for businesses to automate and digitise many parts of their operations. In a press statement, HackerEarth said it has signed on new enterprise clients and doubled its registered customer base in the past few months. 

The Bengaluru-based startup also said that it had raised $6.5 Mn in Series B funding led by the family office of Jo Hirao, CEO of Japanese tech company ZIGExN along with participation from existing investors. The company had raised $4.5 Mn in April 2017, in a round led by US-based DHI Group Inc, with participation from Japanese firms BEENEXT, BEENOS, Digital Garage, and BizReach and Prime Venture Partners.

Founded by Sachin Gupta and Vivek Prakash in 2012, HackerEarth also claimed to have achieved 100% revenue growth in the US. It added that over 2.1 Mn assessments were run on the HackerEarth platform in the last year alone. It also hosted over 400 hackathons, including the Covid-19-focussed HackCovid with a total of over 30K participants.

Besides HackerEarth, HRtech startups such as HackerRank, Codility have joined edtech platforms such as Udemy, Pesto Tech, AttainU, edtech unicorn Unacademy, upGrad and others in the tech-focussed skilling and certification segment. The demand for skilled tech talent has also boosted the overall investments in skill development startups in the past year. According to the Inc42 Plus ‘The Future Of India’s $2 Bn Edtech Opportunity Report 2020’, more than half of India’s workers will require reskilling to meet the talent demands of the tech industry by 2022.

Through a pre-ranked network of developers, assessed on the basis of their skills, HackerEarth aims to ease technical recruitment for its clients, who can save man hours by automating the entire assessment process. The company offers two HRtech products for businesses — FaceCode and HackerEarth Assessments. 

HackerEarth Recruit, on the other hand, enables enterprises to conduct tests to screen technical candidates. It’s claimed to be deployed at over 500 companies, including Amazon, DBS, UBS and L&T Infotech.

“We are obviously operating in unprecedented times, but the development of new software and tech-based solutions will continue to be the core driving force of business digital transformation and competitiveness post-Covid-19 — and highly sought after developer talent is critical in driving this innovation,” said cofounder and CEO Gupta.  

Over the past year, HackerEarth also claims to have brought onboard  applicant tracking systems such as Bullhorn, Greenhouse, iCIMS, SAP SuccessFactors, Workable, JazzHR and Jobvite.