Bandana Secures $8.5 Million to Assist Hourly Wage Workers in Finding Better Jobs

New York City-based startup Bandana aims to improve the lives of hourly wage workers by helping them find higher-paying jobs with better benefits, closer to home. Unlike most startups focused on solving business problems, Bandana is dedicated to uplifting the working class.

Bandana recently announced an $8.5 million investment, increasing its total funding to $12.3 million.

When we spoke with CEO and co-founder Timothy Makalinao last year, he explained the company’s mission: “Our goal is to rejuvenate the working class of America by making it easy for them to find better jobs and, in the long term, better livelihoods.”

Bandana achieves this through a user-friendly website that features job listings, detailed descriptions, pay ranges, estimated take-home pay after taxes, benefits, and job locations on a map, minimizing commuting time.

Despite its altruistic mission, Bandana operates with business objectives like any other startup. “Since our last conversation, we launched Bandana.com, which has been hugely successful,” Makalinao told.

The platform lists between 18,000 and 25,000 jobs daily and has attracted over 150,000 job seekers from New York City, primarily through organic traffic. Makalinao estimates that 10,000 to 15,000 people have found jobs through Bandana.

The startup’s success is partly due to its clever content marketing strategy on TikTok and Instagram. They create engaging videos that highlight specific jobs and businesses around New York City. One video about the career trajectory of a Costco cashier received over 12 million views on TikTok. Another video showcasing a Puerto Rican restaurant in Harlem garnered over 150,000 views, driving traffic to the business.

This effective social media strategy has allowed Bandana to acquire job seekers at a remarkably low cost of 1.5 cents per user, attracting investor interest.

Bandana plans to expand beyond New York City to include New Jersey, Long Island, and areas north of the Bronx toward Scarsdale. They also plan to extend their services to Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area by Q1 2025.

Additionally, Bandana intends to broaden its advertising efforts to subways, bus stations, billboards, and other traditional media, funded by the new investment.

So far, Bandana has focused on attracting job seekers rather than monetization. However, they have recently introduced sponsored posts to generate revenue. Future plans include developing a generative AI search tool to help users find jobs based on their preferences and expanding into training, certifications, and financial literacy programs.

The recent investment round was led by General Catalyst, with participation from Craft Ventures and Triple Impact Capital.