【印度】TracxnLabs为雇佣平台ZenRadius注入启动资金
导语：总部设在印度班加罗尔的网络招聘平台ZenRadius帮助企业，特别是初创企业，通过职业社交网络网罗到合适的应聘者。
由Flipkart联合创始人及Anzy Careers的Deepak Singh 所共同支持的创业孵化器TraxcnLabs近日为招聘平台ZenRadius注入了一笔数额不详的启动资金。
这家由Nitesh Mishra，Arpit Kumar 及Alok Yadav所创办的班加罗尔网络招聘平台帮助企业，特别是初创企业，通过职业社交网络网罗到合适的应聘者。
世界间的联系已经变得越来越千丝万缕，在不久的将来，利用这些丰富的人际网络来网罗适宜的应聘者正在成为招聘的重要方式。
·ZenRadius如何工作？
用户可通过电子邮箱地址登录ZenRadius平台，然后输入职位或求职的关键词。该平台会自动从用户自己的联系人列表中进行匹配并推送相关信息。
为了与被推荐者取得联系，用户需要编写一封标准邮件来对职位要求进行详细描述，仅需单击一下，该平台就能向所有潜在应聘者发送个性化邮件。
此后，平台的数据分析系统将会显示有哪些人已经阅读了该邮件，并对这些推荐候选人对于职位的兴趣度进行评估。
当一家企业或是招聘公司使用该平台进行招聘时，尽管应聘者能够与诸多联系人取得联系，但是其简历只会被自动发送至职位发布者（而非推荐人）的手中，这样做是为了表达对职位发布者的尊重，因为他们拥有挑选适宜求职者的职业裁量权。
职位发布者能够看到某位求职者的所有推荐人有哪些，因此，雇主就可以利用这些不同的信息渠道来对求职者的背景进行交叉比对，以确保求职人信息的真实性。
“以前，亲朋好友或是工作伙伴经常问我们能否为他们公司的空缺职位推荐合适的应聘者，这给了我们灵感。通过某个人的人际圈所完成的雇佣过程，虽然非常有效，但是也很麻烦，实际上，没人会为了找到更好的求职者而对自己圈子里已经存在的资源进行广泛利用，”Mishra说。
“作为职业人的我们，通常会对自己圈子中其他专业人士的才能非常熟悉，并且能够很好的为某个具体职位推荐合适人选，这是一个基本事实，”他补充道。
在打造ZenRadius平台之前，该公司的核心团队所创办的第一家初创企业名为Smokelift Technologies，主要为Olacabs、Practo、Acceltrade及StudyPad等公司提供包括大数据基础设施服务在内的可扩展分析服务。
Tracxn的创始人Abhishek Goyal表示，“多年来，我们见证了通过共同朋友所完成的雇佣具有更高的成功率，特别是当我们有职位空缺的时候（而不是求职），但是通过人脉寻找求职者的过程非常累人。我们认为科技可以大大简化这一过程。”
目前，TracxnLabs已经完成了对两家初创企业所进行的投资，分别是美容服务移动市场StayGlad和按需物流企业Parcelled。
Hiring platform ZenRadius raises seed funding from TracxnLabs
Hiring platform ZenRadius has received an undisclosed amount of seed funding fromTraxcnLabs, an incubator backed by Flipkart Co-founders and Deepak Singh of Anzy Careers.
Founded by Nitesh Mishra, Arpit Kumar and Alok Yadav, this Bangalore-based network hiring platform enables firms, especially startups, to hire the right candidates through professional networking.
The world is getting more socially and professional connected and making use of these already enriched networks to obtain the right candidates is going to become the key method of hiring in the near future.
How does the platform work?
A user can log in to the ZenRadius platform with an email address and enter keywords of the professional vacancy or requirement. The platform automatically pulls out appropriate references from the user’s own contact list and suggests new ones.
To contact the referred professionals, the user types a standard mail detailing about the job requirement. The platform then sends personalised emails to all the potential candidates in a click.
Further, the platform analytics shows data on who has opened the emails and provides a way to assess the interest of referred candidates in the available jobs.
If a company/recruitment firm uses the platform, despite employees referring job vacancies to multiple contacts, CVs are automatically routed to only the Job Creator (and not the referrers) honouring the fact that only the Job Creator must have the professional discretion to choose the right candidate.
The Job Creator is able to see all the people who might have referred the same candidate. Hence, backgrounds could be crosschecked from multiple sources to ensure the authenticity of candidates.
“We were often asked by both our personal and professional contacts if we could recommend potential candidates for job opportunities in their companies? This got us thinking. The entire process of hiring through one’s network, though very effective, is very cumbersome and no one is actually using the data which is already present within their networks to get better candidates,” said Mishra.
“It is a basic fact that as professionals we are usually familiar with the skill sets and talents of other professionals within our circles and are in a better position to suggest the names of ‘likeminded’ professionals who would be most suited to specific job positions,” he added.
Prior to developing the ZenRadius platform, the core team founded its first startup Smokelift Technologies and developed scalable analytics involving Big Data infrastructure services for Olacabs, Practo, Acceltrade and StudyPad.
Abhishek Goyal, Founder of Tracxn said, “Over the years, we have seen that people we hired through common friends had much higher degree of success more specifically when we asked for people (and not inbound), but the process of finding people through network was very tiring. We thought technology could simplify this process significantly.”
TracxnLabs has already invested in two startups StayGlad, a mobile marketplace for beauty services, and Parcelled, an on-demand logistics startup.
via e27
硅谷
2015年07月24日
硅谷
大数据服务平台Cazena获2000万美元B轮融资Cazena，一家帮助企业处理数据的新平台，今天宣布已获2000万美元B轮融资，融资由Formation 8领投。其他的投资方包括Andreessen Horowitz和North Bridge Venture Partners，他们也参与了去年十月Cazena800万美元的A轮融资。
Cazena由部分Netezza的前任员工创办，Prat Moghe是公司的领头人。2010年Netezza被IBM收购时，他担任数据监察部门总经理，收购后，任职高级副总裁，负责产品、战略和市场营销。
在IBM干了一段时间后，Moghe觉得是时候用新的视角来解决Netezza曾遭遇的一些问题了。“在看到企业都是如何同全新的大数据堆栈（如Hadoop，一种分布式系统基础架构）挣扎较劲的情况下，我们开始思考下一个十年数据处理的前景，”他说道。“每一个企业，尤其是中大型企业，都在积极寻找着能提高进程灵敏度的云方法，但是现有平台的复杂性和安全问题是很大的障碍。”
Cazena 的目标是极大简化商业中的大数据进程处理。Moghe设想，最终的理想状态是，使用Cazena时只需点三下，就能设置好数据处理工作（当然现阶段还有一些问题需要解决）。
这项服务通过自动搜寻到，处理设定数据组的分析技术方案，从而解决掉处理的复杂性。接下来，它会替客户自动的规定、优化和管理工作流程，无论是Hadoop、Spark、MPP还是SQL9（如Amazon Redshift）类型的结构。
根据你的工作量和其他标准，如价格或是你想要获得结果的速度，Cazena会为你提供适当的基础结构，然后全程关注进度。“最终，数据即服务成为一个新的分类，我们希望能助企业一臂之力，让他们用好云计算。”
Cazena花费了约两年的时间，才公开他们的新产品。但Moghe说，公司尚在和一小部分大型企业合作，进行β测试，现在还没有达到完全开放服务的阶段。
当准备就绪的时候，Cazena会使用相对特别的定价计划。Moghe说，计划是针对服务，包括所有的云计算成本、支持和SLA开销，收取单一费用。他认为，目前针对云处理的收费系统，如gigabyte、note，对企业而言结果都太难预测。
公司的这一轮融资资金，将会用于技术开发、销售推广和合作伙伴建设。
Cazena Raises $20M Series B For Its Enterprise Big Data-As-A-Service Platform
Cazena, a new platform that wants to make it easier for enterprises to process their data, today announced that it has raised a $20 million Series B round led by Formation 8. Other participants include Andreessen Horowitz and North Bridge Venture Partners, who both also participated in the company’s $8 million series A round last October.
Cazena was founded by a number of former Netezza employees and is now led by Prat Moghe, who was Netezza’s general manager for data compliance before its acquisition by IBM in 2010. He then became the senior vice president for strategy, product and marketing at Netezza under IBM’s ownership.
After a few years at IBM, Moghe decided that it was time to look at some of the problems Netezza was trying to solve from a fresh perspective. “We started thinking about the next decade of data processing and how enterprises are struggling with the new big data stacks like Hadoop,” he told us. “Every enterprise — and particular the medium to large enterprises — they were actively looking at the cloud to speed up the agility of processing. But they were being held back by the complexity and security issues [of the existing platforms].”
Cazena aims to greatly simplify big data processing for businesses. Ideally, it should only take three clicks to set up a data processing job with Cazena, Moghe believes (though in reality, it’s still a bit more involved right now). The service strips away the complexities by trying to automatically figure out what technology to use to analyze a given set of data. It then automatically provisions, optimizes and manages that workflow for its customers, no matter whether it’s a Hadoop, Spark or MPP SQL (think Amazon Redshift) job.
Depending on your workload and other criteria like price or how fast you need the results, Cazena will provision the right infrastructure for you and then take care of the processing. “Ultimately, data as a service is a new category and we want to help big enterprises get into the cloud,” Moghe said.
It took the Cazena about two years to get to this point where it’s openly talking about the new product. But while Moghe told me that the company is already running some beta tests with a small number of large companies, Cazena isn’t quite ready to open up its service to all yet.
Once it does launch, though, it will do so with a relatively unusual pricing plan. Moghe tells me that the plan is to charge a single fee for the service that will include all of the cloud costs, support and an SLA. He argues that current cloud processing systems that charge by gigabyte or node are too unpredictable for enterprises.
The new funding the company announced today will go toward building out the company’s technology, sales force and partnerships.
来源：tc
硅谷
2015年07月23日
硅谷
【印度】Avaamo：想解决“企业使用WhatsApp不够安全”这个问题
在成为创业者之前，Ram Menon和SriramChakravarthy都供职于TIBCO，这是一家企业通信软件企业。在TIBCO工作的那段时间里，他们开发了一个名叫TIbbr的企业通信应用，这个应用成为了Yammer和Chatter的主要竞争对手。这段经验让他们了解到了人们在工作中对于通信应用的需求。目前工作通信软件最大的问题之一，就是大多数这类软件都是基于桌面型电脑所开发的。当人们希望在移动设备上使用这些软件的时候，总是会陷入许多麻烦。在过去的五年里，这两位创业者一直在想办法解决这个问题，于是他们成立了Avaamo这家企业。
Chakravarthy在接受采访的时候表示：“在看到消费通讯应用的趋势之后，我们意识到移动应用的最大价值在于其简洁性。”站在普通用户的角度来看，Chakravarthy和Menon最大的贡献，就是让应用下载变得极其快速，而且还大大降低了用户的使用学习成本，缩短了用户之间在进行沟通的时候所需要的时间。而站在企业的角度来看，这个产品最大的优势则在于其安全性和数据的隐秘性。
Chakravarthy以一家总部位于班加罗尔的企业举了个例子。这家企业在于地产经纪公司沟通的时候，一直在使用WhatsApp这个应用的群组聊天功能。然而这个群组并非安全群组，也不会合适群组成员的真实身份。加入群组内的某一个人某一天离职，而群组管理人忘记将其移除群组，那么公司的许多私密信息就很有可能泄露出去，从而对企业的数据安全造成威胁。
Chakravarthy和Menon决定彻底解决这个问题，于是他们在2014年成立了Avaamo。这家在印度和硅谷都有办公司的初创企业为企业提供了一种安全并且便于监管的通信应用。这个应用分为免费版和付费版，企业可以根据自己的需求来选择。
免费版的Avaamo与WhatsApp非常类似，用户可以添加群组成员，并且发送无限量的消息。而付费版则提供了数据保护功能，它可以自动移除已离职成员，群组管理员也可以手动管理成员。为了方便管理，企业管理者还可以安装Avaamo的网页版应用，并且使用其中的控制面板来更加快速的管理聊天组成员。付费版的价格由企业的员工数量所决定。
Chakravarthy表示：“这个应用有着非常方便的控制机制，企业可以随时对聊天成员进行管理，避免数据出现泄漏。”
WhatsApp isn’t safe enough for business messaging; Avaamo fills the gap
Before turning entrepreneurs, Ram Menon and Sriram Chakravarthy worked for TIBCO, an enterprise communication software company. During their stint there, they built a product called Tibbr, an enterprise communication app that competed with Yammer and Chatter. This gave them a first-hand experience in understanding how people use communication apps in their professional lives. A clear drawback was that these apps were primarily desktop based. The apps did not have the elements of ease that people look for while communicating on mobile. This became more apparent as Menon and Chakravarthy noticed the big shift to mobile in the last five years. That inspired the duo to co-found Avaamo.
“After seeing the trends in consumer messaging apps, we realized that there was an inherent value proposition in the simplicity of mobile apps,” Chakravarthy tellsTech in Asia. The main points that Chakravarthy and Menon worked on, from the consumer point of view, were how quickly the app could be downloaded, how easily it could be maneuvered, and how to ensure minimum response time during communication. From an enterprise point of view, the main elements were security and data privacy.
Chakravarthy cites the example of a real estate company in Bangalore which uses WhatsApp to communicate with the real estate agents through groups. These are not secure groups in terms of assessing the identity of the members. In the case where a member has left the company, an admin might not necessarily have remembered to remove him from the group. A lot of private and confidential information is exchanged in these groups and without centralized monitoring of members, the company might be compromising on its security and data privacy.
Eureka
Menon and Chakravarthy decided to tackle these challenges and incorporated Avaamo in 2014. The India-Silicon Valley based startup, provides enterprises a secure and an easily supervisable communication app. The app has both free as well as paid versions. The free one works like Whatsapp and the user can add members and send unlimited messages. The paid version provides data compliance, automated user on & off boarding, broadcast to company users, support and administrator control. An enterprise administrator can install the Avaamo web app and control messaging and communication through a dashboard.
The pricing for the premium app is for enterprises and varies with the size of the enterprise and number of employees
AN administrator can create a list of members, monitor the daily user activity on the app, and manage the groups. The groups can be predefined for departments and can also be created by employees according to their convenience. An employee can download the free version and keep in touch with the company for their daily tasks. The administrator can decide the amount of time to keep the data before it gets deleted automatically.
“The app has fine-grained controls that will ensure that only the right people join,” says Chakravarthy.
For the mobile employees
There are several applications available to companies for enterprise communication in India. Skype for Business, Slack, and Flowdock, among many others, address the problem of being in touch with employees across all offices and branches a company might have. When asked about the well-rooted competition, Chakravarthy said, “These apps are great, but for the desk-bound employees. But for example, in an insurance company, if the manager wants to get in touch with an agent riding a moped on a hill in Shillong, he can’t reach him with Slack, because the agent is on WhatsApp.” According to Chakravarthy, people using their mobile phones 70 percent of the day lack an enterprise grade communication system that is easy to use. “Avaamo bridges this gap in an under-served market,” he claims.
Avaamo has 7,000 companies on board out of which, 3,000 are Indian companies – mostly insurance companies, pharmaceuticals, and banks. “We focus on companies that have more employees on their mobile phones and provide a secure and easy communication platform on cheap Android phones,” adds Chakravarthy.
Messaging 3.0
“SMS was 1.0; Whatsapp, WeChat,and Line were 2.0; and we would like to think of ourselves as 3.0,” says Chakravarthy.
Recently, Avaamo introduced a ‘Smart Card’ as the latest addition to their app. Smart Cards are broadcast cards that allow sending out aggregated information to the members of a group on the app.
For example, the sales growth in a certain period of time can be sent out in the form of a card to employees. It can also be sent out as surveys for feedback or as a letter from the CEO. The employees can read it, reply, or ask for clarifications. “The read rates on HR surveys and letters are more than often under 10 percent and this feature will help them know how many employees are looking at the information on the card and responding. They can then take steps to improve the engagement rate,” says Chakravarthy.
The app also makes it possible to check-in so that the employee can be located on the map. Take an ATM servicing company, for example. It is necessary to know where their employees are so that they can promptly deal with any ATM-related issues by assigning the task to an employee in the vicinity of the ATM.
Chakravarthy believes that Avaamo is taking everyday business processes and making them mobile-ready.
The big hurdles before Avaamo in the way of further expansion in India as well as rest of Asia, in terms of communicating their product, is the bandwidth and battery. In India, people are concerned about keeping their phone alive and using their data cost-consciously. Also, the 3G infrastructure of India is less reliable compared to the other countries. Avaamo sees this as its main challenge.
The startup believes in the concept of information velocity. This concept deals with the speed at which messages are sent and ensures a short response time during conversations. To tackle fluctuating internet connection, Avaamo introduced its “fire and forget” feature, which ensures that the message that has been sent from a phone reaches the recipient irrespective of whether the sender has stable data or not.
Avaamo is a team of 40 based in both India and Silicon Valley. Menon is CEO and Chakravarthy is CTO at the startup. Even though the business has a global focus, Avaamo is currently seeing an unexpected yet welcome increase in customer traction in India. It has now set up a sales team focusing on increasing its customer base here.
In October of last year, the startup raised US$6.3 million in seed funding from WI Harper group, with participation from Streamlined Ventures, Rembrandt Ventures, Ovo Fund and Eleven Two Capital.
来源：Tech in Asia
硅谷
2015年07月23日
硅谷
YC孵化企业CareLedger希望为员工提供免费医疗
今日，数字医疗创业公司CareLedger从美国创业孵化器Y Combinator毕业，将为世界各地工作者提供免费、高品质的医疗服务。
这可是个不小的壮举。美国拥有全世界最昂贵又最低效的医疗服务系统，医疗开销比其他国家高出成千上万美元。而根据国际卫生机构（International Health Policy）的调查结果，美国的医疗效果和质量却差强人意。
有很多组织都在为了降低医疗保健开销而努力着，从Y Combinator孵化出的另一企业SimplyInsured打算通过分析成千上万的保险计划，从而降低医疗开销，向企业员工提供最佳的报销利率。新型医保公司Oscar Health通过技术手段向用户提供免费服务。不管怎样，医疗质量才是关键。
CareLedger的推荐服务使用了一种略为不同的方法——进行价格比较。这种做法的目的是，在雇主医保可承受的价格范围内，选出最好的服务再进行推荐。
CareLedger的联合创始人Oliver Takach说，雇主只有在开销确实降低的情况下，才用向我们付费。
举个例子，一项结肠镜检查开销可能在1000-1500美元。CareLedger会在1500美元的范围内找到评级好的医生，或是在雇主医保预算限额内的医生。公司承诺会给工作者们免费的医疗帮助，包括没有免配额、没有自付率或是共同支付项目。
CareLedger会根据你的地理位置、方便程度，从资料名单里选择医生，然后预约诊疗。CareLedger并不会在服务完毕后发送账单，所有的医疗援助也应该是免费的。
这个想法让人难以置信：针对工薪阶层的免费品质医保！与此同时，Walmart，“永远最低价”的连锁超市，也试着用同样的方式向人们提供优惠的医疗保健和免费服务。
GE and Lowe’s也在所谓的“卓越中心（Centers of Excellence）”计划下，免费提供特定手术，如髋关节和膝关节置换手术的费用报销。
“CareLedger做的也是‘卓越中心’这样的计划，但是不用你奔波去完成手续和测试。”联合创始人Oliver Takach说道。
“CareLedger也能从免费流程中获得报酬，但雇主们只在我们公司把员工但医疗费用较低到一定程度时才用付费。这既节省了员工的费用，也免去了雇主可能面临的昂贵开销。”
“你可以看到平均价格，某个地区单个流程的固定价格，然后再是我们的价格，也是你实际要支付的价格。不同之处在于，我们的百分比是不一样的。雇主不用向我们付费，除非我们的确帮助他降低了费用。”Takach说。
CareLedher声称，在超过600项步骤和检测中，平均可以节省高达50%的费用。
来源：TC
硅谷
2015年07月22日
硅谷
客户体验管理平台Medallia获1.5亿美元融资
提供客户体验管理云服务（SaaS）的Medallia刚刚获得了红杉资本的1.5亿美元融资，估值已达12.5亿美元。
Medallia是一家提供客户体验管理软件即服务（SaaS）的初创企业，成立于2001年，总部位于Palo Alto，现有员工700人。
客户关系管理（CRM）与客户体验管理（CEM）都是与客户打交道的平台，所不同的是前者主要负责前期跟踪和管理销售交互，而后者则是在售后对客户数据进行分析以提供更好的服务。
Medallia的SaaS CEM平台可以从web（网上评论）、社交媒体、移动以及联络中心收集客户反馈，对收集到的数据进行实时分析并采取行动，从而改善客户体验、提高客户忠诚度、留存率并推动收入增长。与竞争对手相比，Medallia 的Insights服务是其差异化优势，该洞察服务可以在客户遇到问题时提供实时分析。
Medallia的服务主要针对6个行业，其中包括零售、金融服务、酒店、电信、汽车以及B2B提供商。Verizon、Macy’s、Sephora、SAP、Honeywell、富国银行、索尼、Four Seasons、Sodexo及梅赛德斯等均是它的客户。
跟前几轮一样，这次的融资仍由红杉资本领投（尽管成立很早，但Medallia直到2011年才开始第一轮融资），所得融资将用于新功能开发并进行市场扩张。此轮过后，Medallia的总融资额已达2.55亿美元，下一步应该就是IPO了。
Medallia Raises $150 Million in Equity Financing to Continue Rapid Growth
PALO ALTO, Calif., July 21, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Medallia®, a leading SaaS provider of Customer Experience Management (CEM) solutions, today announced that it has raised $150 million in growth equity capital in a round led by Sequoia Capital. This new investment follows a period of rapid growth, during which Medallia welcomed a number of additional large enterprise customers to its client base, substantially grew revenue, launched partnerships with several prominent professional services firms and expanded its global operating footprint.
"Consumers are increasingly making purchase decisions based on customer experience data like online reviews and social media feedback rather than pre-existing brand recognition. To deliver consistently great experiences, leading companies are shifting from merely collecting customer feedback to engaging with consumers and embedding their feedback directly into operations," said Borge Hald, CEO and co-founder of Medallia. "Our recent round of funding is an important step in our journey to build customer experience into the DNA of the world's companies and change the way they operate."
Medallia first raised venture funding in late 2011, and has now raised a total of $255 million. The company plans to use this most recent investment in a two-pronged plan to further enhance its operations, with a focus on:
Developing additional new product capabilities and tools; and
Expanding its operating footprint in major markets, building on a global team that has doubled in size to over 700 employees in the past 18 months.
"Medallia is helping the world's top brands increase loyalty, grow their businesses, and deliver unforgettable customer experiences," said Douglas Leone, Medallia board member and Sequoia Capital partner. "Their rocketing growth will only continue as more companies recognize that in today's age, effectively managing the customer experience is no longer a choice. It's a win-or-lose necessity."
This funding builds on a number of milestones during recent months. Medallia has:
Allied with leading global system integrators and customer experience experts, including J.D. Power and Appirio, that have launched implementation and program management practices for the Medallia platform;
Welcomed companies, including SAP, Mazda and DIRECTV, to its client base, joining such customer experience leaders as Four Seasons and Zurich Insurance Group;
Added seasoned industry veterans to its board of directors, including LinkedIn and Palo Alto Networks board member and audit committee chair Stan Meresman, and former Netflix CMO Leslie Kilgore; and
Appointed proven financial leader and former Polycom CFO Mike Kourey as CFO.
About Medallia
Medallia® is the Customer Experience Management company that is trusted by hundreds of the world's leading brands. Medallia's Software-as-a-Service application enables companies to capture customer feedback everywhere the customer is (including web, social, mobile, and contact center channels), understand it in real time, and deliver insights and action everywhere—from the C-suite to the frontline—to improve their performance. Founded in 2001, Medallia has offices in Silicon Valley, New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Sydney and Buenos Aires. Learn more at www.Medallia.com.
来源：prnewswire
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硅谷之外的思考：科技公司如何改变世界
编者按 ： 克莱尔·霍夫（Claire Hough）是 在线学习平台 Udemy 的工程副总裁。
本周早些时候，众多科技巨头做了一件意义非凡的事情——他们携起手来共建一个更加美好的社会。
作为奥巴马总统提出的 ConnectHome 倡议 的合作伙伴，一批互联网服务提供商、创业公司和科技行业非营利组织，会携手将宽带接入服务扩大至 27.5 万生活在公共住房的低收入群体。随着科技已经成为我们日常生活的一部分，ConnectHome 项目应该会时刻提醒科技公司，他们有责任让尽可能多的人用到他们的产品。
按需经济的诞生重新定义了我们之前所认为的便捷性。实际上，只要你轻轻点击一下手机屏幕，你所能想到的一切东西都可以被召唤到你的身边——无论是快餐、生活用品，还是工作助理、交通工具。虽然这些服务已经改善了我们许多人的生活，但只有那些有钱负担或有机会访问到它们的人，才能从中获利。
《纽约时报》科技专栏作家法尔哈德·曼约奥（Farhad Manjoo）会经常谈到一个主题，即最近这次科技繁荣始终专注于改善少数人的生活质量，比如，他在 最新的专栏文章 中就讨论了点对点解决方案的价值。曼约奥对科技企业扩大产品生产规模的使命——为了让它们更便宜、被更多人所使用——始终抱着质疑态度，这种态度突出了硅谷在道德层面面临的两难局面。
虽然无数的创业公司因为迎合了硅谷少数富有阶层的需求而得到了快速发展，但科技公司的机遇仍然在于他们如何回报之前成就了他们的社区。
即便是今天，美国仍有数千万人无法上网，而全世界更是有一半的人不能上网——知道这一事实，肯定让人觉得很沮丧。我们的政府 已经认识到 ，宽带接入对我们的生活，就同水和电一样的重要。
网络连接可以给那些拥有这种能力的人带来极大的便利，这一点不言而喻；因此，拥有网络连接的人和没有网络连接的人，他们之间存在很大的差异。Facebook 首席执行官马克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）试图通过 Internet.org 将廉价的互联网服务推向全世界的人，这也是最引人注目的项目之一。
最好的解决办法其实就是确保一代人拥有公平的机会——这一代人越来越多地被打上了“日渐消失的中产阶级”的烙印。作为网络服务和第三方平台的受益者，科技企业应该携手努力，对各自的社区带来积极的影响，或是对整个世界带来更大的影响。
ConnectHome 项目也许就是“科技为社会谋福利”的最佳例证。这是一个公私合作项目，谷歌和 Cox 之类的互联网服务提供商均有参与，旨在将高速宽带接入提供给美国 27.5 万低收入群体。奥巴马总统在周三宣布推出了这个项目，因为他已经认识到那些无法访问互联网的人，在教育和就业方面所面临的诸多劣势。对于部分美国人来说，今后每个月的上网费用将只有 10 美元。ConnectHome 就是创业公司如何回馈社会的一个模板。
尽管如此，回馈社会并不限于政府项目。肖恩·帕克（Sean Parker）为他的同名基金会 自筹资金 6 亿美元 ，用以证明科技企业领导人可以给这个世界带来社会效益。由于对 Facebook 的投资，帕克已成为硅谷最富有、影响力最大的科技人士之一。帕克基金会不仅致力于解决像公民参与这样发生在我们身边的小事，而且还积极参与全球公共卫生和生物科技等重要课题。他希望充分利用自己在过去多年来形成的创业心态，对社会大规模变革带来积极贡献。
SurveyMonkey 之类的公司也在开发可以回报全社会的产品。SurveyMonkey Contribute 允许用户进行调查，然后获得慈善捐款以参与他们选择的慈善事业。到目前为止，SurveyMonkey Contribute 已经向无国界医生组织（Doctors Without Borders）、美国红十字会、美国人道协会（The Humane Society Of The United States）等慈善机构捐款 500 万美元。SurveyMonkey 的平台正系统性地向给予他们最大帮助的人以回报。
毫无疑问，我们正生活在一个创业的环境下——创业公司不应以服务于有活力的市场而感到羞耻。但这种经济上的刺激并不能免除他们让产品尽可能覆盖更多受众的责任。这些价值根本不必进行大范围宣扬，而是应该成为硅谷一种根深蒂固的文化。
我们在享受科技成果上具有优先权，但最终也迫使我们承担起更大的责任，而这种责任也伴随着我们每天享受到的优先权。
Think Outside The Valley: How Tech Companies Can Change The World
Claire Hough is a VP of Engineering at Udemy, an online learning marketplace.
A handful of tech heavyweights did something remarkable earlier this week — they came together for the betterment of society.
As partners on President Obama’s ConnectHome initiative, internet service providers, startups, and tech nonprofits will expand broadband access to around 275,000 people living in public housing. As technology has become a part of our daily lives, ConnectHome should remind tech companies of their responsibility to make their products as accessible as possible.
The birth of the on-demand economy has redefined convenience as we know it. Virtually anything you can think of — dinner, groceries, work assistance, transportation — can be summoned to you in a single tap. While these services have improved the lives of many, only those who can afford or access them reap the benefits.
That the most recent tech boom has focused on improving the lives of the few is not lost on The New York Times’ Farhad Manjoo, who discussed the value of point-to-point solutions in a recent column. Manjoo’s skeptical take on tech companies’ mission to scale their products — making them cheaper and more accessible — underscores the moral dilemma Silicon Valley faces.
Although an endless number of startups has been enriched by catering to the Valley’s well-heeled residents, an opportunity remains for tech companies to give back to the community that made them.
Even today, it is disheartening to know tens of millions of people in the United States do not have access to the Internet, let alone over 50% of the world. Our government has recognized that broadband access is as vital to our lives as water or electricity.
It goes without saying online connectivity greatly advantages those who have it; hence, a wide disparity exists between those who have it and those who don’t. Mark Zuckerberg’s efforts to bring affordable basic Internet service to the world through Internet.org have been one of the most notable initiatives.
It’s the best way to ensure equal opportunity for a generation increasingly defined by a disappearing middle class. As beneficiaries of online services and marketplaces, tech companies should work toward making a positive impact in their own communities or a greater impact in the world.
No program better exemplifies the “tech for good” mantra than , a public-private partnership with internet service providers like Cox and Google that will expand high-speed broadband access to 275,000 low-income Americans. President Obama announced the initiative on Wednesday, recognizing the disadvantages those without Internet access face when it comes to education and employment. For some Americans, broadband access will cost just $10 a month. ConnectHome is a model for how startups can give back.
Giving back isn’t limited to government initiatives, though. Sean Parker has self-funded his eponymous foundation to the tune of $600 million demonstrating the social good tech leaders can bring to the world. Parker, whose contributions to Facebook make him among Silicon Valley’s wealthiest, established the. Parker foundation to tackle not only nearby issues like civic engagement, but moonshots like global public health and biotech as well. He hopes to leverage the startup mentality he’s gained over the years to affect large-scale change.
Companies like SurveyMonkey are creating products designed to give back, too. SurveyMonkey Contribute lets users take surveys and be rewarded with a charitable donation to a participating charity of their choice. So far SurveyMonkey Contribute has raised over $5 million in donations to charities like Doctors Without Borders, American Red Cross, and The Humane Society Of The United States. SurveyMonkey’s platform is now organically giving back to those who need help the most.s
There’s no doubt that we’re living in an entrepreneurial environment — startups shouldn’t be shamed for serving viable markets. But that economic imperative doesn’t absolve them of their responsibility to make their products as accessible as possible. These values shouldn’t have to be preached; they should be engrained in Silicon Valley culture.
We are privileged to benefit from technology, and ultimately that obliges us to take on greater responsibility that comes with the privileges we enjoy every day.
来源：techcrunch
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澳大利亚线上顾问平台Expert360获得310万A轮融资
导语：这笔融资将会用于扩大其顾问支持团队，并且增加更多企业级服务。HRTechChina也报道过专注中小企业咨询的 “收费版知乎”的“答赏”，“答赏”是通过垂直领域的专业问答涉足在线咨询，为企业经营者提供解决问题方案的，致力打造最有价值的商业分享和人脉社区。国外方面，连接企业家和高级顾问和行业专家的Clarity也与之相类似。
澳大利亚Expert360是一家提供高端顾问服务的平台，近日该公司获得了410万澳元（约合310万美元）的A轮融资，领投方是Frontier Ventures风投公司。
这笔融资将会用于扩大其顾问支持团队，在研究、数据、以及其他知识产品方面提供服务。此外据Expert360联合创始人兼首席运营官Emily Yue透露，该融资还会用于Expert360增加更多企业级服务，一些从大企业退休的高管将会加入到Expert360的顾问人才团队，客户还能获得专属项目经理的支持。
据了解，目前全球顾问行业的市值已经达到了3500亿美元。
参与本轮投资的还有澳大利亚本土科技基金Rampersand，一批机构投资人，现有股东，和高净值投资人（比如Macquarie银行前任总经理Allan Moss AO）。本轮投资之后，Frontier Ventures风投创始人Dmitry Alimov将会加入到Expert360公司董事会。
Alimov说道，“线上顾问服务具有颠覆全球顾问行业的潜力，而Expert360则是此领域里的佼佼者。他们突破了传统的咨询顾问方法，利用科技的力量，全球互联，以及个体性专长，为客户提供优秀的解决方案。Expert360团队给我们留下了深刻印象，他们的执行力非常快，产品质量和发展轨迹也很不错。我们非常高兴能够重新回到线上顾问服务行业。我们的目标，就是帮助该公司的联合创始人和他们的团队，把这项事业推向新的。”
Expert360公司成立于2013年，他们在全世界拥有超过4500名专业顾问，企业客户可以轻松地与旗下顾问联系，获得帮助。根据该公司官方信息，目前Expert360总部设在悉尼，在澳大利亚和东南亚拥有15名全职员工。
Bridget Loudon是该公司首席执行官兼联合创始人，她说道，“我们的公司愿景非常简单，就是希望利用科技的力量，帮助客户或是客户的项目得到优质的顾问服务，让他们能够随时随地的获得顾问价值。我们非常高兴，因为有一批非常棒的投资人帮助我们将Expert360推上一个新台阶。我们的领投方，Frontier Ventures风投，在全球市场有着丰富且有价值的专业经验，我们非常期待与他们合作。”
Frontier Ventures是一家专门在全球新兴市场从事互联网领域投资的风投公司，他们主要关注东南亚和俄罗斯的消费互联网服务。该风投的投资组合包括亚洲餐厅预订平台Chope，俄罗斯线上视频公司ivi.ru，以及俄罗斯和独联体的线上企业服务平台profi.ru。本次对Expert360的投资，是他们第十笔线上服务平台类投资，也是他们在亚太地区的第二笔投资。
Frontier Ventures leads US$3.1M Series A round in Australia’s Expert360
Frontier Ventures has led an oversubscribed AU$4.1 million (US$3.1 million) round raised by Australian consulting marketplace Expert360.
The newly raised capital will see the company expand its support for consultants through access to research, data and other IP. The money will also be used to expand its enterprise services offerings so that executives in larger organisations can get instant access to a pool of consulting talent and support from a dedicated project manager, shared Expert360’s Co-founder and COO Emily Yue.
The global consulting industry is worth US$350 billion.
Co-investors in the round include Australian technology fund rampersand, institutional investors, existing shareholders, and high net worth individuals such as former Macquarie Bank MD Allan Moss AO.
Frontier Ventures Founder Dmitry Alimov will join the company’s Board of Directors.
Alimov said, “Expert360 is a leading marketplace for online consulting services with potential to disrupt a massive global industry. It breaks apart traditional consulting methodology by using the power of technology, global connectivity and individual expertise to provide superior client solutions. We are very impressed by the company’s team, its speed of execution, product quality and outstanding growth trajectory. We know online service marketplaces and we’re excited to back this one. Our goal is to help Bridget, Emily (Co-founders) and the Expert360 team take this business to a new level.”
Launched in 2013, Expert360 connects consultants with companies and has more than 4,500 independent consultants available from around the world. From an initial small team in Sydney, it now has 15 full-time employees across Australia and Southeast Asia, said an official release.
Bridget Loudon, CEO and Co-founder of Expert360 said, “Our vision is simple: it’s about harnessing technology to connect clients and their projects with great consultants, anywhere, anytime and in a way that delivers outstanding value for both parties. We’re extremely excited to have a great set of investors on board to help us take Expert360 to the next level. Our lead investor, Frontier Ventures, brings a wealth of global marketplace expertise that will be very valuable. We look forward to working with them.”
Frontier Ventures is a venture fund focussed on Internet investments in global emerging markets, with a main focus on consumer Internet services in Southeast Asia and Russia. Its portfolio includes Asia’s restaurant reservation platform Chope, Russia’s online video company ivi.ru and online marketplace business in Russia and CIS profi.ru. This investment marks the 10th online marketplace in Frontier Ventures’ portfolio and the fund’s second deal in the APAC region.
来自：e27
HackerRank近日获得七百五十万美元投资[caption id="attachment_8176" align="alignnone" width="720"] Tech Hiring Matchmaker HackerRank Draws $7.5M From Global HR Firm[/caption]
HackerRank近日获得七百五十万美元投资
程序员招聘竞赛平台HackerRank近日宣布从日本人力资源巨头Recruit获得七百五十万美元投资。HackerRank让应聘者在线完成真实项目的编程挑战，从而来为企业筛选出能力优秀、符合招聘需求的技术人员。HackerRank的联合创始人兼首席执行官Vivek Ravisankar表示, Recruit成为股东将有助于HackerRank扩展在亚太地区的业务。Recruit可以成为HackerRank在亚太地区企业和应聘者的入口。
去年11月有报道国内有一家Hackerrank 的平台：
HackerRank模式的中国尝试者：oxcoder让程序猿在线完成项目挑战来帮企业做招聘笔试
http://www.hrtechchina.com/archives/4383
原文来自：
http://www.xconomy.com/san-francisco/2015/07/14/tech-hiring-matchmaker-hackerrank-draws-7-5m-from-global-hr-firm/
HackerRank, which hosts online competitions that help programmers flaunt their skills to potential employers like Amazon and Quora, said today it has landed a $7.5 million investment from the funding arm of Japan-based human resources giant Recruit.
The new alliance with Recruit will help Palo Alto, CA-based HackerRank scale up its business in the Asia Pacific region, CEO and co-founder Vivek Ravisankar says. Recruit could be HackerRank’s gateway to both employers and job candidates in that part of the world, he says.
HackerRank counts as customers more than a thousand employers such as Walmart, Bloomberg, and Morgan Stanley, which pay for access to programmers who score high in HackerRank’s online coding challenges, Ravisankar says. All have made at least one hire facilitated by HackerRank, he says. Recruit itself is not a client—yet.
“I think we’ll get them soon,” Ravisankar (pictured above) says.
Ravisankar and his co-founder Harishankaran Karunanidhi, who started the company in 2012, want to change the way tech workers and employers find each other. Under traditional staff search processes, tech applicants send their resumes into the “black hole” of company hiring departments, while recruiters spend hours sifting through resumes to find good prospects, Ravisankar says. Employers may then spend weeks doing interviews to try to gauge the applicants’ actual technical abilities.
HackerRank’s competitions are designed to speed up that process, and open opportunities to people regardless of their gender, race, location, or the prestige of their university degrees. Hackers can log in to the site to improve their skills, compete in challenges, and gain rankings across a range of specific areas such as algorithms, machine learning, and streamlining code. For employers looking to hire skilled new tech team members, it’s kind of like consulting a Moneyball analysis of programmers, Ravisankar says.
“They’re getting to talk to high-quality candidates from the start,” Ravisankar says. HackerRank has screened more than a million developers over the last couple of years, he says. More than 150,000 active programmers used the site over the past month.
In addition to the chance of getting a job offer, hackers can win cash prizes or tech toys such as GoPro cameras, drones, and laptops by performing well in the contests.
HackerRank has built a reputation as “the go-to community for tech talent analysis,” HR Technology Fund president Chihiro Ueda said in a statement about the Recruit fund’s investment in the startup. “As the demand for technology talent continues to outstrip supply, HackerRank offers an efficient way for HR professionals to evaluate talent beyond traditional means.’’
The Recruit fund’s investment brings HackerRank’s total fundraising to $17 million. The company’s earlier financial backing came from Y Combinator, Khosla Ventures, and Battery Ventures, among other investors. Ravisankar says HackerRank’s competitors include companies such as San Francisco-based recruiting software company Gild. Gild compiles profiles of working professionals from dozens of sites, and helps employers find those who best match their needs.
HackerRank’s clients include small to medium-sized businesses as well as larger enterprises, Ravisankar says. The company charges fees of $5,000 to $10,000 a year, per user, depending on the extra features clients want to add. These include CodePair, a skills-testing tool employers can use during the interview process. HackerRank also enables companies to set up their own hacker challenges on their websites’ career landing pages.
Ravisankar says he expects HackerRank’s revenues to reach “the double-digits of millions of dollars” in the next three to four months. The company may double its current staff size of 120 within a year, he says.
HackerRank is one of a growing number of online forums where programmers can demonstrate their computer science skills, outside the academic credentialing system of degrees from accredited colleges and universities. For example, Utah-based online learning company Pluralsight offers skills tests through its divisionSmarterer, and hackers can showcase their work on tech projects throughGitHub.
HackerRank is also making inroads into the academic system. Professors at 74 colleges are using HackerRank’s challenge infrastructure at no charge to set programming tasks for their students, rather than posting the assignments via e-mail, downloading each student’s work, and computing the rankings themselves. Once the classroom service becomes better known, HackerRank will market it as a product to colleges and universities, Ravisankar says.
But HackerRank will remain an avenue of opportunity for people who have never earned a degree, says Ravisankar. The company’s core mission is to create a meritocratic route to tech employment, he says. Fees will never be charged to hackers entering one of the company’s coding contests, he says.
“They will never pay,” Ravisankar says. “It will always be free forever.”
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