Outdefine raises $2.5m to build a decentralized talent community

Outdefine, a San Francisco-based startup, raised $2.5 million that it could use to build a decentralized hiring community for web3 talent.

The investment speaks of the company’s value proposition and the real-world application for crypto because it came at a time when the crypto market was in a difficult period.

Web3 investors TCG Crypto and Jump Crypto led the funding round with the participation of Big Brain Holdings, Formless Capital, Blocore, Mask Eco Fund, crypto angels, and syndicates.

Outdefine is building a token-backed hiring marketplace on the Solana blockchain, which allows talents to directly negotiate the scope and compensation of their jobs and receive token rewards.

Talents earn Outdefine’s crypto token for referring some friends, finding work, and contributing to the community.

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, about 51 percent of all knowledge workers globally went permanently remote in 2021. Their ability to work remotely enabled these talents to work flexibly and provide specialized skills to a variety of companies.

It also became apparent that the core ethos of developing in the web3 space is to become part of a community for growth, learning, and earning crypto rewards.

However, the reality remains that most of these job opportunities have gatekeepers who take up to 50 percent of the talents’ salary.

Outdefine is working to address this gap by prioritizing talent growth and experience.

The company is building a token-backed hiring marketplace on the Solana blockchain, where talents are able to directly negotiate the scope and the corresponding compensation for the work that they do as well as receive token rewards.

Talents earn Outdefine’s crypto token for referring friends, finding work, and contributing to the community.

With its capability to offer rewards, incentivize network activity, and promote transparency, the token has helped hiring companies, talent, and the marketplace form a fair partnership.

“Outdefine has created a unique approach to hiring and incentivizing web3 developers, one that we believe will help solve the global shortage of technical blockchain talent. TCG Crypto is excited to support Romil and his team in their endeavors to solve a fundamental issue for the crypto industry and increase the consumer adoption of blockchain technologies,” said Jonathan Moore, an Investor at TCG Crypto.

Outdefine’s Co-Founder and CEO Romil Verma formerly co-founded a venture-backed company and worked as an engineer at Google (NYSE: GOOG). He also started his blockchain career at Stanford in 2014 when the overwhelming majority of people were diving into artificial intelligence.

In the performance of his work, Romil saw that the options available to hire great talent lacked the necessary trust and transparency between companies, talent, and the network.

Romil partnered with Co-Founder and CRO Sanjay Verma, who served as CXO for several public engineering services companies over the last decade. Verma led said companies through growth, mergers, and geographical expansion while managing 25,000 people globally.