Science Inc to enter India with SpringRole
3 min read . Updated: 04 Sep 2014, 12:05 AM IST
PremiumSpringRole, a web portal where companies can put up job openings and the public can refer suitable candidates, is ready to go live in the second week of Sep
Bangalore: SpringRole, a web portal where companies can put up job openings and the public can refer suitable candidates, is ready to go live in the second week of September. SpringRole is promoted by California-based Science Inc., which was started by former Myspace chief executive officer Michael Jones.
Science Inc., which incubates and invests in start-ups, is in the process of hiring a head of operations in India. It will also launch some of its other start-ups in India and invest in some Indian ones over time, Jones said. SpringRole, which is currently in beta phase in US and India, will open for public simultaneously.
“We want to invest in India in platforms that are based on the marketplace model and mobile apps. There is a good appetite for such products in India," said Jones.
So far, SpringRole has tied up with 50 companies in US and India, said Benoit Vatere, CEO at SpringRole. Among its US clients are PayPal co-founder Elon Musk’s SpaceX, and blog publishing platform Medium started by Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone. In India, it is looking to be “at a pace of getting 100 companies on board every week by end of this year", said Vatere. Science Inc. will start a “college ambassador programme", this month, Jones said. The company will reach out to college students across India who will help it choose apps best suited for Indian audiences. The company, which has 16 people working at its 1,100 sq. ft India office in Bangalore is also moving to a larger office and will look to double its staff by end of next year.
SpringRole allows companies to post jobs and users to refer those jobs to their friends through various modes such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter and email. If the referred person is selected, the user gets paid. The referral money, which is indicated against each job, is decided by SpringRole. It charges a monthly fee from its client companies. While there is no restriction on the number of jobs a company can put up, only a few will be visible to the users depending on the subscription package.
“We have an entry level monthly package of ₹ 6,000 for companies where they can post as many jobs as they want but there will only be one active job," said Vatere. “There is great opportunity in this space for both the companies and the people. While companies can get good employee profiles from these referrals, the people also get to earn money," said Kartik Mandaville, director of technology at Science Inc. and one of the founders of the start-up SpringRole.
The referred profiles are screened by SpringRole before it goes to the companies using an algorithm which checks whether the profiles match the company’s requirements.
“We have a semi-automated system to weed out the referrals. We don’t want to become a spam machine. A user cannot refer more than six people for a particular job," said Mandaville.
SpringRole, which has only an iOS app at present, plans to launch an Android app in two-three months.
The start-up is also in talks with Amazon India to add it as its client so that Amazon India can post jobs on its website, said Mandaville.
SpringRole does not have Amazon as its client yet in either US or India.
Though many companies have employee referral programmes, public referrals would be new ground.
Analysts say such referrals could make recruiting more complex.
“When you open referrals to the public, it will become difficult to manage as the companies may have the same profiles in their database or maybe referred the same person by their recruiting agency," said Rajiv Krishnan, leader- people and organization practice at EY India.
