Toronto, ON -- (ReleaseWire) -- 06/02/2015 --Wirkn Inc. CEO Derek Szeto announced today the company has raised a $1.2 million seed round and appointed Todd Dean, former ALDO Vice President of Cross Channel and Ecommerce as the group's new Chief Marketing Officer.
The round was led by two North American retail software heavyweights - Howard Stotland (Founder of STS Systems) and David Henning (former EVP of Epicor Retail).
Szeto made the announcement on the eve of STORE, Canada's largest retail conference - where the company has been tagged as one of 10 finalists in the Retail Council of Canada's Reboot Challenge and will be on hand in the "Disruption Alley".
Szeto says the company has been aggressively signing up retail, restaurant and event venue managers across North America and now boasts more than 1,000 locations actively hiring through the platform; tapping into Wirkn's growing user base of more than 40,000 job seekers.
Szeto says adding Todd Dean as Wirkn CMO gives the group fantastic insight into the mindset of major retailers throughout North America and was a key addition in the eyes of the investment community.
"Wirkn is focused on helping people find the right jobs and rewarding them for doing great work," says Dean. "I've seen first-hand how greater employee engagement drives a retail business."
Wirkn's impressive list of seed investors now includes prominent recruitment/staffing agencies, such as Drakkar and GuruLink, who were inspired by Wirkn's mobile-first approach and philosophy.
Wirkn has partnered with Drakkar which allows their 200,000 applicants to access shift work for world-class events including upcoming major concerts and sporting events.
Wirkn is aimed at youth, targeting the retail and hospitality industry, which represents more than 15.4 million employees in North America. With 39% of retail employees being under the age of 28, mobile is the perfect platform to help them find opportunities to develop their skills.
Available for IOS and Android, you can download Wirkn from the App Store here: http://wir.kn/store
About Wirkn
With offices in both Toronto and Montreal, Wirkn is the world's first mobile employment solution designed to help youth join the workplace and to help employers better connect with the mobile generation.
For more information, please contact:
Derek Szeto
CEO, Wirkn Inc.
derek@wirkn.com
888-359-8471 x701
Todd Dean
CMO, Wirkn Inc.
todd@wirkn.com
888-359-8471 x708