Galena, a São Paulo, Brazil-based employment startup that propels young talents to access great careers, raised US$16.7m in Series A funding.
The round was led by Altos Ventures, with participation from the ventures arm of Exor N.V., Owl Ventures, Reaction, Globo Ventures and a few individual investors such as David Velez, Kevin Efrusy, Dan Rosensweig, Armínio Fraga and Romero Rodrigues.
The company intends to use the funds for the growth of the business through key investments in technology, product development and talent acquisition.
Created by Eduardo Mufarej and Guilherme Luz, two entrepreneurs who purchased and run Somos Educacao, the largest Brazilian Edtech company, until its sale to Kroton in late 2018 for USD 2.3 billion, Galena helps students be employed after four months of an intensive program. The company understands the students’ vocation, works on their training, connects them to partner companies, and follows up with them post employment, giving all the necessary support. Students don’t pay anything during the training. They will only pay Galena after the training is concluded, and only if they are hired with a salary of R$2,000 or more.
This model has already attracted some of the largest companies in Brazil as corporate partners, including iFood, QuintoAndar, Cora, Unilever, Stone, Nubank, Alelo, XP, Arco, Dell and PetLove.
Since its founding, the startup has received more than 21,000 applications for its selection process. The second cohort of young learners – called Galeners – will graduate at the end of March, and the next cohort will start in April 2022. Galena intends to help propel 50,000 young people to the labor market in the next five years.
FinSMEs
13/04/2022