This brings Alignable's total raise to $13.5 million with the most recent prior round being $8 million in September 2015 led by Mayfield Fund and existing investors Saturn Partners, NextView Ventures and Lead Edge Capital.

Recruit Strategic Partners is a 100 percent subsidiary of Recruit Holdings from Japan and has invested in innovative startups, including 99designs, Bench, Docusign, Kabbage and Shipbob, amongst others. The investment from Recruit Strategic Partners will be used by Alignable to accelerate user growth, engagement and hiring in its Boston office, where the company is headquartered.

During the past 12 months, Alignable has driven positive growth and engagement, increasing from 7,000 to 8,000 communities in North America and increasing the number of small business connections made on the platform from a half million to more than 1 million.

'We're excited by Alignable's traction to date within the local business community,' said Joe Saijo, President and Managing Director at Recruit Strategic Partners. 'Investing in Alignable was a natural progression for our investment portfolio and further cements our passion and excitement for the global, local business community.'

Alignable's principal mission is connecting business owners to each other within hyper-localized communities by providing the network and platform to engage.

'Alignable is growing in exciting ways as we continue to place our strategic bets on the needs of local business owners,' said Eric Groves, Co-Founder and CEO at Alignable. 'The community growing on Alignable is defining the future of how local businesses interact and work with each other, and it's thrilling to be a part of the transformation each and every day.'

About Recruit Strategic Partners

Recruit Strategic Partners is a 100% subsidiary of Recruit Holdings, Co., Ltd. from Japan. We focus on investing in innovative startups from all around the world. Our mission is to support our portfolio companies to expand their business in Japanese market and we offer our accumulated industry expertise and knowledge to achieve this. We are also in charge of the management and operation of this fund funded by Recruit Holdings.

As an integral part of Recruit's global investment business, Recruit Strategic Partners co-invests with leading venture capital firms in the U.S. Recruit Strategic Partners is a business builder at heart; having DNA of Recruit Holdings. We provide financial investment, market insights and networks to entrepreneurs to support their game-changing challenge. Especially, we would be delighted to support entrepreneurs entering Japan market with extensive reach to both merchant and consumer side.

About Alignable

With more than 1 million meaningful relationships already established, Alignable is the network exclusively for local businesses owners. Unlike traditional networks where users connect with hundreds or thousands of people, Alignable members establish a personalized core network of trusted industry peers who align with their goals, needs and target customer base. Active in more than 8,000 communities, Alignable members have the opportunity to meet fellow business owners nearby, network, generate customer referrals, co-promote, ask questions and benefit from word-of-mouth marketing through discussions and knowledge sharing. Alignable is available on both desktop and mobile app. Headquartered in Boston, Alignable was made public in 2014 and is venture-backed by Mayfield Fund, Recruit Strategic Partners, Saturn Partners, NextView Ventures and Lead Edge Capital. For more information, visit: https://www.alignable.com/.