StartWire, America's #1 job search organizer, today announced the close of a Series B financing round of $1.5MM, led by Baird Venture Partners (BVP), the U.S. venture capital fund of Baird Private Equity. StartWire will use the funds to accelerate development of its next-generation job search applications and aggressive user acquisition.

"2012 was a great year for us," said Chris Forman, CEO, StartWire. "From a standing start, we helped more than 700,000 job seekers organize their job search, close the application black hole, and automate the cumbersome job application process. This capital will allow us to stay focused on the job seeker centric innovation that made us successful in 2012 while accelerating adoption of StartWire among North America's active job seekers."

StartWire's latest round of financing comes on the heels of a year filled with product and market success. In addition to strong user growth and engagement, StartWire received the HR Product of the Year award from Human Resource Executive® for its employer platform - ApplicationConnect.

"StartWire's focus on improving the search process for job seekers, recruiters and organizations addresses a major need in the marketplace so the company has already seen fantastic growth," said Benedict Rocchio, BVP Partner. "Significant site engagement and rave reviews from job seekers have strengthened StartWire's market position, and we are excited about supporting the company's future endeavors."

StartWire has 15 employees and is headquartered near Dartmouth College in Lebanon, NH.

About StartWire™
StartWire™ is a game-changing Internet job search organizer that launched in early 2011. StartWire closes the "résumé black hole" by providing job seekers with automatic application status updates from thousands of employers. Since its inception, StartWire has received rave reviews and write-ups in US News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, About.com, AOL Jobs, CNN, ERE, and Human Resource Executive. StartWire is headquartered near Dartmouth College in Lebanon,NH.

About Baird Venture Partners
Baird Venture Partners, the U.S.-based venture capital fund of Baird Private Equity, makes venture capital investments in early and expansion stage business services and life sciences companies. Baird Venture Partners leverages its in-depth sector knowledge, experienced investment team and network of relationships to serve as a value-added partner for its portfolio companies. Baird Private Equity is the global private equity group of Robert W. Baird & Co. (Baird). For more information, please visit http://www.bairdventurepartners.com.