DURHAM – Zippia, a Silicon Valley-based startup with a growing operation in Durham where one of its cofounders is based, is continuing to hire at its Triangle office and is celebrating the closing on $8.5 million in new venture capital financing.

Zippia focuses on helping job seekers find career opportunities. It’s now raised $12 million since launch in 2015.

The funding was announced early Wednesday. Investors include MHS Capital, Correlation Ventures and NextView Vemtures.

Zippia

Chris Kolmar a company cofounder, is vice president of marketing. He moved to Durham six years ago.

“We are hiring locally, specifically writers, editors, graphic designers on the marketing side,” company spokesperson Nick Johnson tells WRAL TechWire. “Our engineering and product team is mostly San Francisco based.”

Just how many jobs will be added in Durham is unclear, but Johnson says the help wanted sign is brightly lit in the Bay Area.

“Here in Durham, we fluctuate between three and 10 employees, depending on the cycle we’re in, though, we’re looking to grow our team locally even higher,” he says.

“No firm plans on hiring numbers locally, but there’s an immediate mandate to hire 25-30 employees both here and in San Francisco.”

Zippia uses machine learning and data aggregation to create what it calls “career maps” for users. These help “job seekers understand career pathways like never before” while Zippia tools “provide job seekers unique resources, creating a more complete understanding of job titles and career options.”

Zippia offers recommendations for best companies to work, such as in North Carolina with Charlotte-based Albemarle, a chemical firm, topping the list of 100 rated firms:

“We hand-curated a list of the best companies to work for headquartered in and around North Carolina using data on salaries, company financial health, and employee diversity.”

The new funding will be used for technology development, marketing as well as a “buildout” of company data and reviews.

Providing “the tools to find the career that is right for” job seekers

CEO Henry Shao and Kolmar launched the company after having met at Movoto where both had worked. Shao sold Movoto to Recruit Holdings. He and Kolmar then left to launch Zippia.

“I have personally hired hundreds of people throughout my career and realized that quite often they neither know much about their career options, nor how to change or advance their career. While I try my best to mentor the people close to me, it was frustrating to know there are many underprivileged groups that don’t have access to mentors. I want to put all the available career information online so that we can help everyone achieve their career goals,” Shao said in a statement.

“The internet can answer almost any question out there: How to build a house, how to buy a car, or how to find love. But there is very little reliable guidance available online for choosing a career, despite it being one of the most important decisions of our lives. This is why we decided to build a platform that gives everybody the tools to find the career that is right for them.”

The company says it draws more than 1 million visitors a month.

“The internet can answer almost any question out there: How to build a house, how to buy a car, or how to find love. But there is very little reliable guidance available online for choosing a career, despite it being one of the most important decisions of our lives,” Shao said. “This is why we decided to build a platform that gives everybody the tools to find the career that is right for them.