Greenhouse Software

Greenhouse Software

Company type	Private
Industry	Recruiting software
Founded	2012 (2012)
Founder	Daniel Chait, Jon Stross
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Daniel Chait (CEO)
Products	Recruiting software as a service
Number of employees	125 (2015)
Website	greenhouse.io

Greenhouse Software—often referred to simply as Greenhouse—is a U.S.-based technology company located in New York City that specializes in providing recruiting software as a service. Established in 2012 by University of Michigan graduates Daniel Chait and Jon Stross, Greenhouse has swiftly increased its footprint within the recruitment technology sector.

The company initially raised $2.7 million through seed funding in 2013, followed by a $7.5 million Series A round in 2014. In 2015, it secured $13.6 million during Series B and $35 million in Series C financing rounds. Later, in 2018, Greenhouse completed a $50 million Series D funding. CB Insights recognized Greenhouse as a potential unicorn, estimating its valuation to surpass $1 billion.

Founding, seed financing, and Series A (2012–2014)

Daniel Chait, one of Greenhouse’s cofounders, had previously launched the banking software firm Lab49. After divesting his shares in Lab49 in 2011, he turned his attention toward recruitment technology, identifying it as an untapped market with significant potential. This led to the creation of Greenhouse in 2012.

In November 2013, Greenhouse obtained $2.7 million in seed capital led by Social+Capital Partnership and Resolute Ventures. Angel investors included founders from ZocDoc and early backers of Pinterest. These funds were directed at growing the engineering, sales, and marketing teams as well as expanding customer acquisition efforts.

By August 2014, Greenhouse raised $7.5 million in a Series A round once again led by Social+Capital Partnership, with Resolute Ventures and Felicis Ventures participating. The capital injection was aimed at scaling hiring operations and promoting the company’s recruiting software platform.

Series B and Series C rounds (2015)

In March 2015, Greenhouse secured $13.6 million during its Series B round, led by Benchmark, alongside continued support from Social+Capital Partnership, Felicis Ventures, and Resolute Ventures. Benchmark’s Matt Cohler joined the board of directors at Greenhouse. CEO Daniel Chait revealed that the company’s valuation had increased by 2.5 times since the Series A round. The funding was intended to grow the sales force, complete security audits, support internationalization, and enhance product features to better identify leading candidates.

Later that year, in August 2015, Greenhouse raised $35 million through its Series C round led by Thrive Capital. Between the Series B and C rounds, the customer base nearly doubled from 450 to 800 clients, while employee numbers grew from 45 at the beginning of 2015 to 125 by the conclusion of Series C funding. With just 10% of customers located outside the United States, Greenhouse planned to expand its international sales team, upgrade site infrastructure, and advance confidential research and development initiatives. Based in New York City with an additional office in San Francisco, the company aimed to open further offices abroad.

Also in August 2015, research organization CB Insights identified Greenhouse as a potential future unicorn, citing its fundraising achievements and employee retention rates as reported by The New York Times.

Recent developments: private equity acquisition (2021–present)

In January 2021, TPG committed $47 million at a valuation of $820 million and additionally acquired a majority ownership by purchasing $450 million worth of shares from current investors. The debt portion of the transaction was financed by Carlyle Global Credit alongside AB Private Credit Investors.

Product

Greenhouse provides an annual license for its recruiting software as a service platform to businesses. This solution aggregates job applications from various channels, such as job boards and employee referrals, into one centralized interface. Built as an open system with an application programming interface (API), Greenhouse connects seamlessly with a wide array of SaaS tools including Zapier, Workato, HireView, Connectifier, and Clara Labs. The platform facilitates A/B testing for job advertisements and standardizes interview workflows by enabling consistent candidate assessment through uniform evaluation criteria. It compiles resumes and interview insights to match applicants with job specifications and empowers companies to compare their hiring performance against industry benchmarks.

See also

• Tech companies in the New York metropolitan area