Forbes reports:
In 2003 Dominic Penaloza became the 40,132nd person to join the U.S. networking site LinkedIn. Not terribly remarkable for a site that now has 135 million users, but for Penaloza it was a lightbulb moment: “I remember distinctly thinking this is something that should work in China. The concept of professional networking is so Chinese.”
Fast-forward and Penaloza is now at the helm of Ushi.com, a Shanghai-based professional-networking site that launched in February 2010. It has 600,000 members, is growing by 100.000 a month and boasts a staff of 60. In September it closed a $3 million round of funding led by New York research firm Gerson Lehrman Group.
“I think this is the right time to invest in a professional social network in China,” says Yunli Lou, managing partner of Shanghai’s Milestone Capital Partners, who invested in Ushi.com out of her own pocket in both the most recent round and the earlier angel round. “There are so many small-to-medium-size businesses in China and people switch jobs so much, and there is no pool or platform to find qualified people.”
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