NEW YORK — End-to-end diversity recruiting and retention platform PowerToFly has secured over $30 million in funding led by investment funds managed by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital (“Expansion Capital”). Additional investors include the Morgan Stanley Next Level Fund (“Next Level Fund”), Chartline Ventures, and Grasshopper Bank (through debt financing).
“Any leader will tell you that intense competition to recruit, retain, and support diverse talent is going to continue for decades to come, in or out of a recession,” said Katharine Zaleski, PowerToFly’s Cofounder and President. “With this injection of capital we can double down on innovative products and data offerings oriented towards building cultures of belonging — a necessity for diverse talent.”
Specifically, this investment will allow PowerToFly to build a membership portal for HR and People Operations leaders to learn best practices from DEIB experts in on-demand courses and tap into insights from anonymous comparative data points. It will also support the continued growth of PowerToFly’s existing products and services, including free professional development courses for the millions of diverse professionals who visit the platform each year.
“This investment is symbolic of the irreversible momentum and support for advancing the representation of more diverse talent and intersectional identities in the workplace,” said Milena Berry, PowerToFly’s Cofounder and CEO. “As a queer person, an immigrant, and a mom of four, I’m most proud of how we’ve worked from the inside out to build a company and community that represent the workplaces we want to see.”
“We are excited to partner with PowerToFly as a thought leader who is helping to define the rapidly growing DEIB market. The PowerToFly team brings a purpose-built and authentic approach to solving all DEIB needs for businesses across all sizes, industries, and geographies,” said Nick Nocito, Executive Director with Expansion Capital.
“With the support of our corporate partners, Microsoft, Hearst, and Walmart, we aim to accelerate PowerToFly’s DEIB recruiting platform and close the funding gap for early stage companies led by women and founders of color,” adds Alice Vilma, Co-Portfolio Manager of Morgan Stanley’s Next Level Fund.
PowerToFly brings the entire DEIB ecosystem of passive and active talent, community groups, and companies together on one platform. In addition to meeting directly with hiring managers on the platform, PowerToFly users can attend summits and events throughout the year, watch thousands of upskilling videos, and network with peers, all free of charge.
Companies typically average five hires or more per live event when they leverage PowerToFly’s global search database and best practices for engaging candidates. Companies can also increase retention by fostering a greater sense of belonging on their teams through PowerToFly’s DEIB trainings. New features added to the platform are fueled by a core belief that talent is equally distributed while access to opportunities is not.
About:
PowerToFly was founded by Milena Berry and Katharine Zaleski in 2014 to fast-track economic equity by upskilling and connecting underrepresented talent to roles in highly visible sectors. The company is focused on empowering underrepresented talent across all races, ages, ethnicities, sexual orientations, abilities, veteran statuses, and gender identities. Allies are welcomed. You can view PowerToFly’s internal demographic data collected in an April 2022 survey here.
A full list of companies on the PowerToFly platform can be found here.
