California: California based provider of outplacement solutions, RiseSmart has raised $2 million in funding from its existing investor Norwest Venture Partners. This brings its total funding to $13.85 million. The funds would help the company to grow exponentially and aggressively go after its competitors to garner the market share in the outplacement industry. It also plans to add more customers to its growing roster of Fortune 500 client.

The company caters to various industries: information and technology, consumer products, data centers, government contractors, financial services, engineering, news services, food and drug, and healthcare. “Venture capitalists look to invest in companies that are driving disruptive innovation in a legacy industry. In a market that has been dominated by traditional, brick-and-mortar business models, RiseSmart has injected the power of its proprietary, cloud-based technology and service platform to turn the industry on its head and deliver unprecedented results to both employers and their transitioning workers,” says Sanjay Sathe, President and CEO, RiseSmart.

The company uses a common technology and service platform to provide solutions for transitioning talent during recruitment and outplacement. It estimates the U.S. market for outplacement services is approximately $1 billion annually. Its offerings include Transition Concierge, which focuses on displaces employees; and SmartRedeploy, a SaaS solution to help employers reassign valuable talent during reduction in workforce.  

Talking about the competition, Sathe says, “Regardless of the surrounding economic climate, companies continue to transition employees. RiseSmart is a next-generation solution that utilizes a unique blend of technology and human touch to get transitioning employees into jobs fast. We're currently placing transitioning employees into new jobs 59 percent faster than U.S. national average. We deliver better results at a fraction of the cost. By getting transitioning workers into their next jobs fast we are able to lower corporations’ corporate tax rates and keep their unemployment claims down,” says Sathe.

Founded in 2007 by Sathe, RiseSmart leverages cloud-based technology platform, proven methodologies, and one-on-one support to help employees with their workforce strategies. It also helps the displaced employees with their career strategies.  Prior to founding RiseSmart, Sathe was the Vice President for enterprise data management at Sabre Holdings and the Vice President, Marketing at Brierley & Partners. He holds an MBA from the Asian Institute of Management, Manila; and had pursued an executive education program from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Norwest Venture Partners is a global fund which handled more than $3.7 billion under its management. It has funded over 500 companies since its inception and advices its portfolio companies over the various phases of growth. Few of its portfolio investments include BranchOut, Appnomic, Avere, BlueJeans Network, Badgeville, FireEye, dealsandyou.com, Quikr, Perfint, and many others.