Withe announces USD $1.1M pre-seed raise

Withe, a Vancouver-based on-demand video interview platform, announced a USD $1.1M pre-seed raise. The round was led by San Francisco-based VC and private equity firm, Focal. Withe, coincidentally for a company that supports businesses that are actively hiring, plans to make some new hires of its own as well as expand its product offerings. The company also signed its first enterprise customer in Fortune 500 industry leader Trueblue, a Tacoma-based recruiting and workforce management company.

Withe’s SaaS platform is designed for enterprises that hire hundreds to thousands of people at the same time, such as staffing and recruiting teams in the tourism and hospitality industry. Its software allows those companies to build video calling capabilities right into their website. It can be used to strengthen face-to-face relationships with customers, capture leads right at their moment of interest, and demo products live — all without the need to download additional software or open additional tabs.

With great responsibility: “Today, it simply takes too long to get qualified candidates in front of great companies,” said Daniel Shalinsky, CEO and co-founder. “What we’ve created in Withe is a platform that benefits both recruiters and candidates by providing them with an on-demand and seamless experience. This funding will propel the next phase of Withe by enabling us to continue to hire the right people while we expand further into new markets.”

With a little help from its friends: In October 2021, startup community On Deck announced a new $100M fund and accelerator to back founders, which it called ODX. For startups that successfully applied to ODX, the community said it would invest $125,000 in exchange for seven percent equity. Companies would also gain access to networks, tools, customers, and support. Seven-and-a-half-thousand applications were made, and only five Vancouver-based companies were successful. Withe was one of them. This experience likely provided the momentum that led the company to raise this capital.