In 2015, Kaya Taner and Emma Tracey founded the startup Honeypot in Berlin. Around four years later, they took care of it. The careers network Xing takes over Honeypot for initially 22 million euros. Depending on the success, another 35 million will be added after three years. Both founders remain operationally in business.
What is Honeypot and what makes it so valuable for Xing?
The startup is a job portal, especially for IT professionals. It describes itself as the largest German language job platform for tech roles. The special feature is, Honeypot turns the application process over. Companies compete with IT talent, not the other way around. In addition, the startup offers job seekers advice and gives tips on the curriculum vitae and information on the industry standard wage level. According to the company, around 100,000 people are currently registered on Honeypot, with 1,000 being added weekly.
The listing on Honeypot is free of charge for the applicant. The companies, however, pay 15 percent commission on the annual salary. Should the employee leave the company within the first three months, the employer will be reimbursed the amount. 20,000 companies are registered with Honeypot and are looking for new employees along the way. These include Zeiss, Engel & Völkers, Zalando and ProSiebenSat1.
The success of Honeypot once again highlights the glaring shortage of skilled workers, especially in the technical field. According to a study by the industry association Bitcom, 82,000 jobs in the IT sector remained unfilled last year, and the number is rising.
The startup wants to become more international
With the takeover by Xing, the startup wants to become more international. So Honeypot can further develop the domestic market and at the same time expand its international community, founder Kaya Taner rates the deal. The focus is first on the German speaking region.
For Xing, which sees itself as the largest social network on the Internet for career issues, the business represents the largest acquisition in the company’s history. The 2003 founded in Hamburg network has about 15 million members. Meanwhile, Xing is more than just a network. With subsidiaries and brands such as kununu or HalloFreelancer you want to cover the topic New Work, i.e new ways in the world of work, all-encompassing. In keeping with this, a renaming to New Work SE is planned for the second half of the year.
Also published on Medium.