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Japan’s job search startup LiB raises $700,000, offering more options for working women

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See the original story in Japanese. Tokyo-baed LiB, an executive job search site for women, announced today that it has raised 70 million yen ($688,000) from CyberAgent Ventures and East Ventures. Since its launch two months ago, LiB will soon surpass 4,000 users, mainly women who earn an annual income of more than 4 million yen ($39,000). In my recent interview with LiB planner Rina Takei, she said that LiB is an IT company rather than a human resources company, so they will hire more engineers to strengthen their team. She elaborated: From our experience over the last couple of months, we realized that women users tend to acclaim a service that gets many inputs from users and provides good agents to consult with. Our website allows users to easily send a message to our agent just by clicking a button, and this function is popular. To make up for a declining workforce in Japan, the Japanese government has been pushing for more women to join the workforce. As a result, many companies are keen to see how the LiB platform fares in cultivating the women’s labor market. She said: Our platform can reach many people not covered by conventional…

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See the original story in Japanese.

Tokyo-baed LiB, an executive job search site for women, announced today that it has raised 70 million yen ($688,000) from CyberAgent Ventures and East Ventures. Since its launch two months ago, LiB will soon surpass 4,000 users, mainly women who earn an annual income of more than 4 million yen ($39,000).

In my recent interview with LiB planner Rina Takei, she said that LiB is an IT company rather than a human resources company, so they will hire more engineers to strengthen their team. She elaborated:

From our experience over the last couple of months, we realized that women users tend to acclaim a service that gets many inputs from users and provides good agents to consult with. Our website allows users to easily send a message to our agent just by clicking a button, and this function is popular.

To make up for a declining workforce in Japan, the Japanese government has been pushing for more women to join the workforce. As a result, many companies are keen to see how the LiB platform fares in cultivating the women’s labor market. She said:

Our platform can reach many people not covered by conventional job search sites. They are not looking for an immediate job change, but want to think further about their carrier path in order to prepare a better future.

Coinciding with the fundraising, LiB set up an in-house research project aiming to assist companies in hiring more women and offering advice to the government.

A recent survey by the company shows that 80% of users want to keep working after the age of 50 and 90% prefer working at a job that is fulfilling rather than working at a job just to make money. Takei pointed out how LiB supports the needs of working women:

Many people expect companies to have well-organized welfare systems. 80% of working women want options, such as working from home or part-time work after getting married or having a baby. […] So, we aim to support them by giving them more work-style options.