AltaClub and AltaIR Capital have a new 'unicorn' in their portfolio — Turing. The founders named it after the famous British mathematician, Alan Turing, who had a huge impact on the development of computer science.
Founders: Jonathan Siddharth and Vijay Krishnan
Launched in 2018, the company was valued at more than $ 1 billion in late 2021. Demand from funds and investors in the current round was so overwhelming that the round was "oversubscribed"; just like the previous one. The founders created and launched a product that has filled a major need for both global IT companies and for highly skilled developers who work from home with companies that are fundamentally changing the technological landscape.
We’ll explain why we decided to invest in Turing, why this service stands out in the market, as well as about the growing demand.
The market for hiring IT developers
The trend of remote work is no longer a trend; it’s a reality that’s the norm. Big Tech, and not only, continue to grapple with the problem of effective management of widely distributed teams. At the same time, they struggle with retaining valuable developers.
With the growing demand for the digitalization of business, it’s more and more difficult to quickly find effective development teams, and employee qualification continues to be an acute challenge. Businesses need Silicon Valley-level developers — here and now. They need those who can be trusted to create the kind of products that allow them to maintain their lead or compete in the global marketplace.
AltaClub members and fund from AltaIR Capital invested in Turing in spring 2020 when the project’s target market was estimated at $ 18.9 billion. The potential market size today is $ 20−25 billion. Demand for strong developers continues to grow rapidly, but despite growing competition Turing is more attractive because of its know-how and understanding of customer needs.
High demand
Turing seeks out, evaluates, hires, onboards, and manages developers for major tech companies from around the world. Clients include Johnson & Johnson, Coinbase, Rivian, Dell, Disney, Plume, and many Silicon Valley clients whose numbers are growing rapidly. The platform already has more than 1 million developers from 140 countries.
The service is unique in that it uses AI to select candidates that employers need — Talent Cloud. For IT programmers, from entry-level to CTO, Turing provides an opportunity to get a remote job in a prestigious global company. It tests candidates by level of knowledge, hard and soft skills, and selects only those who most closely match the articulated requirements of the hiring company.
The automated platform allows companies to deploy new engineering teams at lightning speed and find their ideal employee or team. Compared to how long it can usually take the HR department, clients save enormously on hiring, training, and offloading an employee to the project. Another advantage of the system is a working methodology for evaluating the team’s effectiveness with the client after this perfect match. Turing’s clients show a high retention rate, as much as 97%.
Team
The team members have already worked together on previous projects, each with 13 to 15 years of experience in tech. Jonathan Sidharth and Vijay Krishnan, are both Stanford computer science graduates, with experience scaling and further selling businesses in their immediate area of expertise.
Igor Ryabenkiy, founder AltaIR Capital and venture club AltaClub:
— Jonathan is very bright and focused, and I immediately liked the fact that he’s very articulate when he makes his pitch. The company has built an excellent process to identify and recruit highly-qualified specialists for large technology companies. That’s why their sales metrics are high and growth is taking off.
Traction
When we went in, the valuation, although in the millions of dollars, was still in the double digits. Within a year, however, it was already in the quadruple digits. At first, our early-stage fund and AltaClub invested in Turing; and a late-stage fund also joined the new round.
The company has steadily grown at a rapid pace. Given the investments raised in previous rounds and marketing activity in new countries, this rapid growth will continue. The company plans to work with project managers, as well as to strengthen work with non-tech businesses, which also have to transform.
It’s been a little over 1.5 years since we made our investment. Not only has Turing jumped from seed stage to unicorn status, but it has become a recognized market leader in the B2B segment. Now the company also appears in the list of the most promising companies of 2021 according to The Information; in the list of the most innovative companies according to Fast Company; and Forbes included Turing in the list of the Best Employers of the Year. We are sure that this is just the beginning.
We’ll explain why we decided to invest in Turing, why this service stands out in the market, as well as about the growing demand.
The market for hiring IT developers
The trend of remote work is no longer a trend; it’s a reality that’s the norm. Big Tech, and not only, continue to grapple with the problem of effective management of widely distributed teams. At the same time, they struggle with retaining valuable developers.
With the growing demand for the digitalization of business, it’s more and more difficult to quickly find effective development teams, and employee qualification continues to be an acute challenge. Businesses need Silicon Valley-level developers — here and now. They need those who can be trusted to create the kind of products that allow them to maintain their lead or compete in the global marketplace.
AltaClub members and fund from AltaIR Capital invested in Turing in spring 2020 when the project’s target market was estimated at $ 18.9 billion. The potential market size today is $ 20−25 billion. Demand for strong developers continues to grow rapidly, but despite growing competition Turing is more attractive because of its know-how and understanding of customer needs.
High demand
Turing seeks out, evaluates, hires, onboards, and manages developers for major tech companies from around the world. Clients include Johnson & Johnson, Coinbase, Rivian, Dell, Disney, Plume, and many Silicon Valley clients whose numbers are growing rapidly. The platform already has more than 1 million developers from 140 countries.
The service is unique in that it uses AI to select candidates that employers need — Talent Cloud. For IT programmers, from entry-level to CTO, Turing provides an opportunity to get a remote job in a prestigious global company. It tests candidates by level of knowledge, hard and soft skills, and selects only those who most closely match the articulated requirements of the hiring company.
The automated platform allows companies to deploy new engineering teams at lightning speed and find their ideal employee or team. Compared to how long it can usually take the HR department, clients save enormously on hiring, training, and offloading an employee to the project. Another advantage of the system is a working methodology for evaluating the team’s effectiveness with the client after this perfect match. Turing’s clients show a high retention rate, as much as 97%.
Team
The team members have already worked together on previous projects, each with 13 to 15 years of experience in tech. Jonathan Sidharth and Vijay Krishnan, are both Stanford computer science graduates, with experience scaling and further selling businesses in their immediate area of expertise.
Igor Ryabenkiy, founder AltaIR Capital and venture club AltaClub:
— Jonathan is very bright and focused, and I immediately liked the fact that he’s very articulate when he makes his pitch. The company has built an excellent process to identify and recruit highly-qualified specialists for large technology companies. That’s why their sales metrics are high and growth is taking off.
Traction
When we went in, the valuation, although in the millions of dollars, was still in the double digits. Within a year, however, it was already in the quadruple digits. At first, our early-stage fund and AltaClub invested in Turing; and a late-stage fund also joined the new round.
The company has steadily grown at a rapid pace. Given the investments raised in previous rounds and marketing activity in new countries, this rapid growth will continue. The company plans to work with project managers, as well as to strengthen work with non-tech businesses, which also have to transform.
It’s been a little over 1.5 years since we made our investment. Not only has Turing jumped from seed stage to unicorn status, but it has become a recognized market leader in the B2B segment. Now the company also appears in the list of the most promising companies of 2021 according to The Information; in the list of the most innovative companies according to Fast Company; and Forbes included Turing in the list of the Best Employers of the Year. We are sure that this is just the beginning.