Glints (platform)

The company was founded by Oswald Yeo, Looi Qin En and Seah Ying Cong, who met back in high school, Hwa Chong Institution.^[2] Glints began by the founders helping their friends in their search for internships by building up their career readiness through practical & real-world experiences. In August 2013, Glints started off with 38 members tracked in Google Sheets and as of April 2015 it had grown to over 7000 active members.^[3] The trio have put their computer science degrees and scholarships on hold at Stanford, University of California Berkeley, and Wharton Business School respectively, in order to pursue the business.^[4]

In 2017, Looi left the company, citing "creative friction",^[5] and went on to complete his degree and later join the Boston Consulting Group.^[6]

Glints is an alumnus of accelerator Joyful Frog Digital Incubator (JFDI.Asia). In 2014 Glints had received US$59,940 in pre-seed money from private business angels and JFDI.^[7] On October 20, 2014, Glints managed to secure $475,000 in an oversubscribed seed round from venture capitalists, led by East Ventures, with participation from 500 Startups, Infocomm Investments, Darius Cheung, John Tan, SPH Media Fund, 8 Capital and Pix Vine Capital. These funds will be used to grow its engineering team to develop the platform. According to co-founder Oswald Yeo, they have turned away about US$250,000 as they "didn't want to raise so much money right now".^[8]

In February 2018, Singapore-listed recruitment firm HRnetGroup Limited made a strategic investment in Glints.^[9][10]

In July 2019, Glints managed to secure $6.8 million in a Series B round led by Monk's Hill Ventures.^[11]

In April 2021, Glints announced a $22.5 million Series C round led by Tokyo-listed human resources management firm PERSOL Holdings.^[12] It was the largest investment round into a career platform in Southeast Asia at that time.^[13]

In August 2022, Glints secured $50 million in a Series D oversubscribed round co-led by DCM Ventures, Lavender Hill Capital, and returning investor PERSOL Holdings.^[14]