Handshake Revenue, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Handshake is valued at $3.5B as of January 2022, a 29.2x multiple on its last reported $120M revenue.
Last Handshake valuation
$3.5B
Series F · Jan 2022
Last Handshake funding round
$200M
Series F · Jan 2022
Handshake revenue
$120M
Series F · Jan 2022
Key investors in Handshake
Lightspeed Venture Partners
True Ventures
Kleiner Perkins
Spark Capital
EQT Ventures
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
About Handshake
Handshake is a San Francisco-headquartered career network platform connecting students and recent graduates from 1,400 colleges, universities, and bootcamps with 750,000 employers across tech, finance, consulting, and other industries. The service facilitates job searches, virtual career fairs, on-campus recruiting events, and personalized job recommendations. It supports over 10 million registered users through features like profile building, application tracking, and employer branding tools. Handshake partners with institutions such as Stanford University and University of Michigan. Launched in 2014, the platform hosts millions of job postings annually.
Founded
2014
HQ
San Francisco, CAWebsite
Status
Privately held
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Subscription, Advertising
Revenue
$120M (Jan 2022)
Valuation
$3.5B (Jan 2022)
Handshake Valuation
Handshake is currently valued at $3.5B, based on its Series F in January 2022.
The $200M round was led by Coatue and Valiant Peregrine Fund, with participation from Reach Capital, Emerson Collective, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, Base10’s Advancement Initiative and 5 other investors.
Handshake's valuation has grown 32x from $108M at its Series B in November 2016 to $3.5B in January 2022, across 5 priced rounds.
Handshake valuation by funding round
Revenue multiple| Date | Stage | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 | Series F | $3.5B | 29.2x |
| May 2021 | Series E | $1.5B | 15.0x |
| Oct 2020 | Series D | $600M | 16.7x |
| Oct 2018 | Series C | $275M | 1.1x |
| Nov 2016 | Series B | $108M | - |
Handshake Revenue
Handshake's latest recorded revenue is $120M, as of its Series F in January 2022. At a $3.5B valuation, that implies a 29.2x revenue multiple.
Revenue moved from $250M in October 2018 to $120M in January 2022, while the revenue multiple moved from 1.1x to 29.2x.
Handshake revenue by funding round
| Date | Revenue * | Valuation | Revenue Multiple | Stage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 | $120M | $3.5B | 29.2x | Series F |
| May 2021 | $100M | $1.5B | 15.0x | Series E |
| Oct 2020 | $36M | $600M | 16.7x | Series D |
| Oct 2018 | $250M | $275M | 1.1x | Series C |
* Revenue (or ARR) figures are the values recorded alongside each funding round. Typically run-rate revenue at the time of the deal, or a reported LTM (last 12 months) revenue.
Handshake Funding History
Handshake has raised a total of $434M across 7 funding rounds.
Handshake's first fundraising round was a $4M seed round in March 2015. The most recent completed round was a $200M Series F in January 2022.
Handshake funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan 2022 | Series F | Coatue (lead); Valiant Peregrine Fund (lead); Reach Capital; Emerson Collective; Kleiner Perkins; Spark Capital; Base10’s Advancement Initiative; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; True Ventures; Lightspeed Venture Partners; EQT Ventures; Notable Capital | $200M | $3.5B | Handshake is the largest early career network connecting students and alumni from over 1,600 universities with employers, primarily through its job board platform that has scaled to 18 million users. In January 2022, it raised $200 million in a Series F round led by Coatue Management and Valiant Peregrine Fund, with participation from Base10’s Advancement Initiative, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Emerson Collective, EQT Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Notable Capital (via Reach Capital), Spark Capital, True Ventures, and others, achieving a post-money valuation of $3.5 billion—more than double its prior valuation. The funding came amid surging demand during the remote recruiting wave fueled by COVID-19, which eliminated in-person career fairs and drove Handshake's revenue from $36 million in 2020 to $75 million in 2021 (108% YoY growth) and $120 million in 2022 (60% YoY growth). The platform worked with 650,000 companies including every Fortune 500 firm and forged nearly 2 million employer-candidate relationships. Proceeds were earmarked for U.S. and international expansion, dismantling outdated recruiting practices, and supporting underrepresented students via initiatives like scholarships and internships for Historically Black Colleges and Universities through Base10’s Advancement Initiative. Handshake has raised approximately $434-445 million total across rounds, positioning it as a disruptor to LinkedIn for Gen Z by focusing on early-career talent discovery beyond networking. Growth slowed post-2022 due to tech layoffs and hiring freezes, with revenue at $180 million in 2023 and $190 million in 2024, but it rebounded to $280 million annualized by August 2025 and $300 million ARR by year-end. |
| May 2021 | Series E | Lightspeed Venture Partners (lead); Spark Capital (lead); Reach Capital; Emerson Collective; Kleiner Perkins; Valiant Peregrine Fund; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; True Ventures; Omidyar Network; EQT Ventures; Coatue; Notable Capital | $80M | $1.5B | Handshake is a San Francisco-based recruiting platform that connects college students and recent graduates with employers, focusing on diversity and equal opportunity in early-career hiring. It operates as an alternative to LinkedIn for students, offering job discovery, virtual career fairs, student reviews of employers, and tools for skills development and recommendations. The platform serves 18 million students and nearly 550,000 enterprises seeking diverse talent. On May 12, 2021, Handshake raised $80 million in its Series E funding round, led by Lightspeed Venture Partners and Spark Capital, with participation from Coatue, Valiant Peregrine Fund, and prior investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Emerson Collective, EQT Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Notable Capital, Omidyar Network, Reach Capital, True Ventures. This round valued the company at $1.5 billion post-money, marking it as a unicorn and following a prior $80 million raise in October 2020. The funding aimed to expand platform features, grow the user base, enhance recruitment tools, enter international markets like the UK, and scale the team across engineering, design, and marketing. At the time of the round, Handshake reported strong traction with revenue more than doubling annually for the prior three years and approaching $100 million in annual recurring revenue. The company had raised $235.5 million in total venture funding to date. Handshake positioned itself to address social mobility by providing actionable diversity hiring insights to employers and focusing on early-career talent to reshape the future workforce. Post-Series E, Handshake continued growth, raising a Series F round of $200 million in January 2022 at a $3.5 billion valuation led by Coatue and Valiant Peregrine Fund. The company plans further global expansion, AI-driven job recommendations, and strengthening university-employer partnerships to become the leading career discovery platform. |
| Oct 2020 | Series D | Notable Capital (lead); Emerson Collective; Kleiner Perkins; Spark Capital; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; True Ventures; Lightspeed Venture Partners; Omidyar Network; EQT Ventures; Imaginable Futures | $80M | $600M | Handshake is a career network platform connecting college students and recent graduates with employers, emphasizing diversity and reaching beyond top-tier universities. It operates as a job board and recruitment tool integrated with over 1,600 universities, facilitating virtual recruiting fairs and AI-enhanced matching. In October 2020, Handshake raised $80 million in its Series D round led by Notable Capital, with participation from investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Emerson Collective, EQT Ventures, Imaginable Futures, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Omidyar Network, Spark Capital, and True Ventures. The valuation for this round was not publicly disclosed, though a subsequent Series E in May 2021 valued the company at over $1.5 billion. The funding supported enhancements to AI capabilities, platform features, and growth of its user base, which had reached significant scale by then. Sacra estimates Handshake generated $36 million in revenue in 2020, during a period of rapid growth fueled by the shift to remote recruiting amid COVID-19, before accelerating to $75 million in 2021. The platform scaled to 18 million students and alumni users, with employers leveraging its tools for targeted hiring. Post-2020, Handshake continued raising capital, including another $80 million Series E in May 2021 co-led by Lightspeed and Spark at over $1.5 billion valuation, and a $200 million Series F in January 2022 at around $3.3-3.5 billion led by Coatue and Valiant Peregrine Fund. Total funding reached approximately $434-435 million across rounds. Revenue growth decelerated after 2022 due to hiring slowdowns, reaching an estimated $280 million annualized by August 2025. |
| Oct 2018 | Series C | EQT Ventures (lead); Reach Capital; Kleiner Perkins; Spark Capital; Chan Zuckerberg Initiative; True Ventures; Lightspeed Venture Partners; Omidyar Network | $40M | $275M | Handshake is an early career network and recruitment platform connecting college students from diverse backgrounds with employers, including Fortune 500 companies, startups, nonprofits, and small businesses. It partners with universities to provide job and internship opportunities, focusing on increasing access to professional opportunities for underrepresented students. At the time, Handshake was headquartered in San Francisco and focused on U.S. college students across all 50 states, with over 550,000 employers on the platform by later dates. By October 2018, Handshake had raised a total of $74 million across funding rounds, with the Series C round of $40 million led by EQT Ventures and participation from investors including Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners (in prior rounds), Omidyar Network, Reach Capital, Spark Capital, and True Ventures. The October 2018 Series C round aimed to further develop the platform's technology and expand its market presence, building on prior rounds like the Series B in 2016. Later traction included nearing $100 million in annual recurring revenue by May 2021, with over 18 million users, and total funding reaching $235.5 million by then at a valuation over $1.5 billion in the Series E. Subsequent rounds included a Series D in 2019 ($80M), Series E in 2020-2021 ($80M+), and Series F in 2022 ($200M at ~$3.3-3.5B valuation). |
| Nov 2016 | Series B | Spark Capital (lead); Kleiner Perkins; Lowercase Capital; True Ventures; Lightspeed Venture Partners | $20M | $108M | Handshake is a San Francisco-based recruiting platform that connects college students with employers through university career centers, aiming to provide equal job opportunities regardless of geographic or socioeconomic background. Founded in 2013, by November 2016 it had expanded to over 170 universities, serving 3 million students and 100,000 companies and nonprofits, with plans to add 200 more universities the following year. On November 17, 2016, Handshake raised $20 million in its Series B funding round led by Spark Capital, with participation from Kleiner Perkins, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital, True Ventures, and others including Annox Capital, Gsv Accelerate, Hans Robertson, Charles Cheever, and Robert Mylod. This followed a $10.5 million Series A in February 2016 led by Kleiner Perkins and a $3.5 million seed in March 2015 led by True Ventures and Lightspeed, bringing total funding to $34 million at that time. The funds were intended to expand the team—from 43 people—and scale the platform to meet demand. Handshake continued raising capital in subsequent years, including a Series C at $235 million valuation in 2016 per one source (likely overlapping), Series D and E reaching unicorn status at $1.5 billion, and Series F at $3.5 billion in 2022 with $200-210 million raised. The platform grew to 18 million students and 550,000 enterprises by later stages, focusing on diversity hiring and international expansion. |
| Feb 2016 | Series A | Kleiner Perkins (lead); Hans Robertson; GSV Advisors; Charlie Cheever; Lowercase Capital; True Ventures; Annox Capital; Lightspeed Venture Partners; GSV Ventures | $11M | - | Handshake is a college career network platform that connects students and young alumni with employers for recruiting and career development. Founded in 2013 and based in San Francisco, the platform helps universities, career centers, and employers streamline the hiring process for early-career talent. In February 2016, Handshake closed a Series A funding round led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, raising $10.5 million. Co-investors included True Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital, and others. The round brought the company's total raised to approximately $34 million when combined with its prior seed round of $3.5 million (March 2015). The Series A funding was intended to scale the platform and enhance features connecting students with job opportunities. At the time of the Series A close, Handshake had achieved significant traction: the network had expanded from 5 universities at launch to 60 universities, with more than 1.3 million student profiles and over 40,000 active employers recruiting on the platform, including 80% of the Fortune 100. The company planned to use Series A proceeds to broaden university partnerships across the country, expand the engineering and product development team, and roll out premium tools for employers to better target campuses and students. Handshake's post-money valuation for the Series A round was not publicly disclosed at the time. However, the company demonstrated strong growth trajectory in subsequent years, eventually reaching a $1.5 billion valuation in its Series E round (May 2021) and a $3.5 billion valuation in its Series F round (January 2022), reflecting the platform's expanding market opportunity in early-career recruitment and virtual hiring practices. |
| Mar 2015 | Seed | True Ventures (lead); Hans Robertson; Charlie Cheever; Lowercase Capital; Annox Capital; Lightspeed Venture Partners | $4M | - | Handshake raised $3.5 million in a seed round in March 2015 led by True Ventures. Investors included Annox Capital, Charlie Cheever, Hans Robertson, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Lowercase Capital, and others. The funding aimed to develop the initial platform and expand its user base among students and educational institutions. |
Who has invested in Handshake?
20 investors have backed Handshake across its funding rounds, including Lightspeed Venture Partners, True Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, EQT Ventures and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Lead investors include Coatue, Valiant Peregrine Fund, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Spark Capital, Notable Capital and 3 other investors.
Handshake Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | 7 | Lead | Mar 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 7 | Lead | Mar 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 6 | Lead | Feb 2016 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 5 | Lead | Nov 2016 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 4 | Participant | Oct 2018 | |
 Stockholm | 4 | Lead | Oct 2018 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Participant | Oct 2018 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Participant | Oct 2020 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Participant | Mar 2015 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Participant | Oct 2018 | |
| San Francisco, CA | 3 | Lead | Oct 2020 | |
![](data:image/svg+xml,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20"><rect fill="%23e5e7eb" width="20" height="20" rx="4"/></svg>){kind=small} Hans Robertson | San Francisco, CA | 2 | Participant | Mar 2015 |
| San Francisco, CA | 2 | Participant | Mar 2015 | |
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Start Free TrialAcquisitions by Handshake
Handshake has acquired 3 companies to date.
Last acquisition by Handshake was on June 29th 2026. Handshake acquired Uplimit for undisclosed valuation.
Latest Acquisitions by Handshake
| Description | Uplimit is a New York-based learning platform founded in 2020 that partners with companies like Salesforce and McKinsey to deliver AI-powered upskilling programs. Professionals complete cohort-based courses in data science and leadership via interactive simulations. Uplimit scales training for enterprises across Europe and North America, tracking skill proficiency through assessments. | Nova is a professional networking platform where members join interest-based communities to access career content, discussions, job opportunities, and mentorship. The app supports peer connections and skill-building resources for young professionals. Nova features group chats, content feeds, and hiring tools. San Francisco-based, it targets next-generation workers in tech, finance, and creative fields. | Talentspace is a host for interactive virtual and hybrid career fairs and hiring events. The platform enables employers to engage candidates through live chats, video interviews, and booth simulations worldwide. It supports scalable events for tech, finance, and healthcare sectors with analytics on attendee interactions. |
| HQ Country | | |  |
| HQ City | San Francisco, CA | San Francisco, CA | Berlin |
| Deal Date | 29 Jun 2026 | 3 Feb 2023 | 13 Apr 2022 |
| Valuation | undisclosed | undisclosed | $24M |
| EV/Revenue | |||
| EV/EBITDA | |||
This data is available for Pro users. Sign up to see all Handshake acquisitions and their M&A valuation multiples. Start Free Trial | |||
Handshake Competitors
Handshake competitors include listed companies like Seek, Visional and BOSS Zhipin, and private ones like AngelList, RigUp and Incredible Health.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Francisco, CA | Private | $224M | - | $4B | 17.9x | |
 Australia | Publicly listed | $914M | ($63M) | $3.1B | 4.5x | |
| Austin, TX | Private | - | - | $2.9B | - | |
 Japan | Publicly listed | $515M | $157M | $2.2B | 2.6x | |
 China | Publicly listed | $1.2B | $493M | $6.6B | 2.6x | |
| San Francisco, CA | Private | - | - | $1.6B | - |
Handshake Public Comps
Handshake is still privately-owned, but its public comps include Seek, Visional, Upwork, Grupa Pracuj, UT Group, Timee, DIP, BOSS Zhipin, En and Info Edge.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| $914M | ($63M) | 4.2x | 4.5x | (61.7x) | 10.2x | |||
| $515M | $157M | 3.3x | 2.6x | 10.8x | 9.3x | |||
| $788M | $180M | 1.0x | 1.1x | 4.6x | 3.6x | |||
| $214M | $95M | 4.6x | 4.4x | 10.3x | 9.7x | |||
| $1.1B | $82M | 0.7x | 0.7x | 9.4x | 9.2x | |||
| $132M | $23M | 6.3x | 2.8x | 36.0x | 13.5x | |||
| $353M | $85M | 1.5x | 1.5x | 6.1x | 7.4x | |||
| $1.2B | $493M | 2.8x | 2.6x | 7.1x | 5.7x | |||
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Common questions about Handshake
| When was Handshake founded? | Handshake was founded in 2014. |
| Where is Handshake headquartered? | Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States. |
| Is Handshake publicly listed? | No, Handshake is a private, VC-backed company. |
| What is Handshake's valuation? | Handshake was last valued at $3.5B in its Series F in January 2022. |
| How much funding has Handshake raised? | Handshake has raised $434M across 7 funding rounds. |
| What was Handshake's last funding round? | Handshake's last funding round was a $200M Series F in January 2022, led by Coatue and Valiant Peregrine Fund. |
| Who are Handshake's investors? | Handshake's investors include True Ventures, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Spark Capital, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, EQT Ventures, Reach Capital, Emerson Collective, Lowercase Capital, Omidyar Network and 10 others. |
| What is Handshake's revenue? | Handshake's latest recorded revenue is $120M (January 2022). |
| What is Handshake's revenue multiple? | Handshake's latest valuation implies a 29.2x revenue multiple ($3.5B valuation on $120M of revenue). |
| Which companies are comparable to Handshake? | Companies comparable to Handshake include AngelList, Seek, RigUp, Visional, BOSS Zhipin and Incredible Health. |
| How many companies has Handshake acquired? | Handshake has acquired 3 companies, including Uplimit, Nova and Talentspace. |
| What was the largest acquisition by Handshake? | The $24M acquisition of Talentspace in April 2022 is the largest acquisition Handshake has made to date. |
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