Gem Valuation, Funding & Investors

Gem is valued at $1.2B as of September 2021.

See full Gem profile

Last Gem valuation

$1.2B

Series C · Sep 2021

Last Gem funding round

$100M

Series C · Sep 2021

Cumulative funding Gem raised

$148M

across 4 funding rounds

Key investors in Gem

  • Accel
  • Y Combinator
  • Greylock
  • Liquid 2 Ventures
  • ICONIQ Capital
  • Sapphire Ventures

Gem Overview

About Gem

Gem is a San Francisco-based recruiting automation platform integrating with LinkedIn, Gmail, Outlook, and ATS like Greenhouse. It enables talent sourcing, personalized outreach, and pipeline tracking for enterprise teams at companies like Airbnb and Square. Launched in 2016, Gem boosts response rates through AI-driven sequences and deduplication.


Founded

2017

HQ

United StatesSan Francisco, CA

Website

gem.com

Status

Privately held

Customer focus

B2B

Revenue model

Subscription

Valuation

$1.2B (Sep 2021)

Gem Valuation

Gem is currently valued at $1.2B, based on its Series C in September 2021.

The $100M round was led by ICONIQ Capital, with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Greylock, Accel and Meritech Capital Partners.

Gem valuation by funding round

Gem valuation by funding round
DateStageValuation
Sep 2021Series C$1.2B

Gem Funding History

Gem has raised a total of $148M across 4 funding rounds.

Gem's first fundraising round was a $2M seed round in August 2017. The most recent completed round was a $100M Series C in September 2021.

Gem funding rounds

Gem funding rounds
DateStageInvestorsRaisedValuationDeal Summary
Sep 2021Series CICONIQ Capital (lead); Sapphire Ventures; Greylock; Accel; Meritech Capital Partners$100M$1.2BGem is a San Francisco-based recruiting platform that streamlines talent sourcing, engagement, and hiring by integrating with tools like LinkedIn, Gmail, Outlook, and applicant tracking systems (ATS). It helps teams collaborate on candidates, track interactions, discover best practices, and improve response rates while syncing data with high integrity. As of September 2021, Gem served over 800 customers, including more than 100 unicorns such as Gusto, Sift, Cockroach Labs, Shopify, Peloton, Cisco Meraki, MongoDB, and Twilio, with half of the ten biggest U.S. IPOs that year from its customer base like Robinhood. In September 2021, Gem raised $100 million in a Series C funding round at a $1.2 billion post-money valuation, achieving unicorn status. The round was led by ICONIQ Growth, with participation from existing investors Accel and Greylock, and new investors Sapphire Ventures and Meritech Capital Partners, bringing total funding to $148 million. The capital was intended to accelerate growth, including doubling down on product areas like talent reporting, engagement, marketing, workflows, integrations, and expansion into new markets such as Western Europe and Asia Pacific. Gem demonstrated strong traction around the round, having tripled its annual recurring revenue (ARR), doubled its customer base, increased average enterprise deal sizes by 70%, and quadrupled monthly active users year-over-year in 2021. The company also doubled its headcount to over 150 employees in the first half of 2021 and earned top ratings on G2 Crowd.
Jul 2020Series BGreylock (lead); Y Combinator; Accel$37M-Gem is a San Francisco-based software platform for modern recruiting, offering tools like Talent CRM to help companies build relationships with talent, source candidates faster, improve response rates, and enhance hiring diversity through features like Diversity Analytics. Over 300 companies, including Slack, DoorDash, Coinbase, Peloton, and Pure Storage, used Gem at the time of the Series B announcement, with customers reaching 200,000 candidates monthly and achieving metrics such as 5x faster sourcing, doubled response rates, and doubled conversions to phone screens. On July 16, 2020, Gem raised $37 million in a Series B round led by Greylock Partners with participation from existing investor Accel, bringing total funding to $48 million since its 2017 launch. This followed a $9 million Series A led by Accel in March 2019. The funding aimed to double down on product innovation, expand capabilities, and support hiring goals amid strong demand for recruiting solutions, even during the early COVID-19 economic challenges. Gem reported 4x revenue growth in 2019 driven by word-of-mouth among recruiters, its best quarter yet in Q1 2020 (February-April), and a net revenue retention rate of 120%, with customers investing 20% more year-over-year. CEO Steve Bartel highlighted organic growth and product adoption. Greylock's David Wadhwani praised Gem's onboarding, automation, integrations, and analytics for driving community and innovation. A later Series C in September 2021 raised $100 million at a $1.2 billion valuation led by ICONIQ with Sapphire Ventures and Meritech, plus existing backers, totaling $148 million raised. By then, Gem had tripled revenue annually, doubled its customer base to over 800 (including 100+ unicorns), and planned international expansion into Western Europe and Asia Pacific.
Mar 2019Series AAccel (lead); Y Combinator$9M-Gem is an HR technology company providing recruitment automation tools, analytics infrastructure, and HR data management features. The company raised $9 million in its Series A round in March 2019, led by Accel. Gem participated in Y Combinator's accelerator program and later joined the YC Growth program in Fall 2019 to support scaling. Subsequent funding included a $37 million Series B in July 2020 led by Greylock and Accel, aimed at scaling recruitment tools and ATS integrations. Gem achieved a $1.2 billion valuation by its Series C round of $100 million in September 2021, led by Iconiq Capital with participation from Sapphire Ventures, Greylock, Accel, and Meritech. The Series C funds supported product innovation, global expansion, and HRTech positioning. Gem was featured on Y Combinator's 2021 list of top companies by valuation and offers a Free for Startups Program in partnership with YC.
Aug 2017SeedAccel (lead); George Hu; Y Combinator; Ellen Levy; Liquid 2 Ventures; WndrCo; Andrew Miklas; Drew Houston; Krishna K. Gupta; Arash Ferdowsi$2M--

Who has invested in Gem?

14 investors have backed Gem across its funding rounds, including Accel, Y Combinator, Greylock, Liquid 2 Ventures, ICONIQ Capital and Sapphire Ventures.

Lead investors include ICONIQ Capital, Greylock and Accel.


Gem Investors

Investors in Gem by funding rounds participated
InvestorHQRoundsRoleFirst check
AccelUnited StatesPalo Alto, CA4LeadAug 2017
Y CombinatorUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA3ParticipantAug 2017
GreylockUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA2LeadJul 2020
ICONIQ CapitalUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1LeadSep 2021
George HuUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantAug 2017
Ellen LevyUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantAug 2017
Liquid 2 VenturesUnited StatesSan Francisco, CA1ParticipantAug 2017
WndrCoUnited StatesLos Angeles, CA1ParticipantAug 2017
Andrew MiklasUnited StatesUnited States1ParticipantAug 2017
Drew HoustonUnited StatesUnited States1ParticipantAug 2017
Krishna K. GuptaUnited StatesUnited States1ParticipantAug 2017
Sapphire VenturesUnited StatesAustin, TX1ParticipantSep 2021

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Gem Competitors

Gem competitors include listed companies like Freee and ATOSS Software, and private ones like Phenom, Fountain, Sense and Teamtailor.

Public and private companies comparable to Gem
CompanyHQStatusRevenueEBITDAValuationRevenue Multiple
PhenomUnited StatesPhiladelphia, PAPrivate--$1.3B-
FountainUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate--$950M-
SenseUnited StatesSan Francisco, CAPrivate--$500M-
TeamtailorSwedenStockholmPrivate$20M-$341M17.0x
FreeeJapanJapanPublicly listed$214M$6M$1.5B4.8x
ATOSS SoftwareGermanyGermanyPublicly listed$218M$84M$1.7B6.4x

Gem Public Comps

Gem is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Open Up Group, JAC Recruitment, FESCO Group, Hays, McMillan Shakespeare, Kforce, Freee, UT Group, Michael Page and Timee.

Last FYEV/RevenueEV/EBITDA
RevenueEBITDALast FYLTM2027ELast FYLTM2027E
Open Up Group$1.2B$121M0.8x1.0x8.4x8.3x
JAC Recruitment$296M$77M3.2x2.9x12.3x10.6x
FESCO Group$6.7B$296M0.0x0.0x0.5x0.7x
Hays$8.9B$104M0.2x0.2x14.8x10.7x
McMillan Shakespeare$336M$179M4.5x3.5x8.4x11.4x
Kforce$1.3B$52M0.8x0.8x19.9x13.1x
Freee$214M$6M6.3x4.8x237.7x65.4x
UT Group$1.1B$82M0.7x0.7x9.4x9.2x

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Common questions about Gem

When was Gem founded?Gem was founded in 2017.
Where is Gem headquartered?Gem is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States.
Is Gem publicly listed?No, Gem is a private, VC-backed company.
What is Gem's valuation?Gem was last valued at $1.2B in its Series C in September 2021.
How much funding has Gem raised?Gem has raised $148M across 4 funding rounds.
What was Gem's last funding round?Gem's last funding round was a $100M Series C in September 2021, led by ICONIQ Capital.
Who are Gem's investors?Gem's investors include Accel, Y Combinator, Greylock, ICONIQ Capital, George Hu, Ellen Levy, Liquid 2 Ventures, WndrCo, Andrew Miklas, Drew Houston and 4 others.
Which companies are comparable to Gem?Companies comparable to Gem include Phenom, Fountain, Sense, Teamtailor, Freee and ATOSS Software.

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