Handshake
Handshake operates a three-sided career marketplace connecting 25M+ students, 1,600+ universities, and 1M+ employers, monetizing through tiered employer subscriptions and an AI data-labeling business (Handshake AI Fellowship) serving frontier AI labs.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2014
- HeadquartersSan Francisco, United States
- Headcount501–1,000
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What Handshake does
Handshake is a three-sided AI-powered career marketplace operated under the legal entity Stryder Corp., founded in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco. The platform connects roughly 25 million college students and recent alumni, 1,600+ educational institutions covering about 90% of top-ranked US universities, and approximately 1 million employers including the entirety of the Fortune 100. Core technology includes dynamic verified profiles, intelligent job-matching algorithms, FERPA-compliant data infrastructure, and workflow tools for career centers and employers; mobile apps and virtual/in-person career fairs extend distribution. Customers are organized into three primary segments — students and alumni (free, product-led onboarding via university partners), employers (tiered Basic free / Pro at $450/month / Enterprise custom subscriptions with ATS integration), and career centers (institutional platform for events, scheduling, and outcomes tracking). Revenue is generated primarily from employer subscriptions and promoted-job placements, augmented by enterprise ATS integration deals.
Handshake firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Handshake
- Legal name
- Stryder Corp.
- Website
- https://joinhandshake.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2014
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 501–1,000 employees
- Short description
- Handshake operates a three-sided career marketplace connecting 25M+ students, 1,600+ universities, and 1M+ employers, monetizing through tiered employer subscriptions and an AI data-labeling business (Handshake AI Fellowship) serving frontier AI labs.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Handshake industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Online Recruiting Marketplace
- NAICS
- Educational Support Services (611710), Human Resources Consulting Services (541612)
- SIC
- Services-Employment Agencies (7361)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Internship/Apprenticeship Matching & Work-Based Learning Platforms (EDAFAMAL)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Mentoring, Coaching, Alumni Networking & Peer Support Platforms (EDAFAMAN)
Keywords
Where Handshake is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- San Francisco
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices4 records
Markets served
Handshake business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Employer Subscription Plans: Handshake generates revenue primarily through tiered subscription plans for employers. The Basic plan is free with limited messaging (10 messages/month). The Pro plan costs $450/month for growing teams with 200 messages/month, AI-powered tools, and collaboration features. Enterprise plans are custom-priced with unlimited messaging and advanced features.
- Promoted Jobs: Employers can pay to promote job listings for increased visibility and faster, more qualified applicant flow. This is a flexible add-on to Basic or Pro plans, included with Enterprise.
- AI Training Services (Handshake AI): Handshake AI Fellowship program connects AI labs with experts who generate training data for LLMs. The company pays fellows hourly rates ($40-$300/hr depending on expertise) and earns revenue from AI company clients for data labeling and evaluation services.
- Enterprise ATS Integration: Enterprise customers can integrate their Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) with Handshake, enabling seamless workflow automation and data synchronization.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Freemium | Monthly | Basic - Free tier for individual recruiters |
| Subscription | Monthly | Pro - $450/month for growing teams |
| Subscription | Multi-year contract | Enterprise - Custom pricing for large organizations |
| Unit Pricing | Monthly | Promoted Jobs Add-on |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels6 records
Marketing channels9 records
Handshake product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Handshake operates a three-sided AI-powered career marketplace connecting 25 million college students and recent alumni, 1,600+ educational institutions, and 1 million employers. The platform delivers personalized job matching, dynamic profiles, ATS integration for employers, and career center management tools. Handshake AI Fellowship extends the platform by connecting 100,000+ domain experts with frontier AI labs to generate training data for large language models.
Product overview
Handshake operates as a unified career network platform for the AI economy, comprising a core three-sided marketplace connecting students/alumni, educational institutions, and employers, supplemented by the Handshake AI Fellowship program for AI model training. The platform offers distinct modules for employers (recruiting tools in Basic/Pro/Enterprise tiers), job seekers (job search and career development), and career centers (institutional analytics and management). Recent additions include the Software Engineer Talent Network (via Taro acquisition) and the Codex Creator Challenge partnership with OpenAI. The company has undergone a strategic 'refounding' from a college recruitment platform to an AI infrastructure provider, integrating AI data labeling services with its traditional career marketplace.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Handshake AI: AI Fellowship program that provides paid, remote AI training work for experts and generalists. Connects talent with frontier AI labs to help train and improve AI models.
Products and services
- Handshake Core Platform The primary three-sided career marketplace connecting 25 million college students and recent alumni, 1,600+ educational institutions, and 1 million employers. Powers career discovery, hiring, and upskilling through dynamic profiles, intelligent job matching, and interactive skill-building.
- Handshake for Employers Employer recruiting platform enabling companies to post jobs, connect with verified candidates, build brand presence, and manage the full hiring pipeline. Available in Basic (free), Pro ($450/month), and Enterprise (contact for pricing) tiers with ATS integration capabilities.
- Handshake AI Fellowship A paid remote work program enabling students, professionals, and experts to train and evaluate AI models for frontier AI labs. Fellows contribute domain expertise across 50+ fields including law, medicine, engineering, and philosophy to generate high-quality training data for LLMs, with payouts from $40-$300/hour.
- Handshake for Career Centers Institutional tools for universities and career centers to manage student career services, track outcomes, and facilitate employer partnerships. Includes marketing toolkit, event management, and analytics dashboard showing 3x increase in job postings and 78% student satisfaction improvement.
- Handshake AI Software Engineer Talent Network A specialized talent network designed to bridge the coding talent gap in frontier AI development by connecting software engineering talent with AI labs.
Quantifiable outcome
- 3x average increase in job postings for schools switching to Handshake
- +3 more outcomes
Companies that use Handshake
Customer profileNamed customers12 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
Handshake technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Integration2 records
AI capability6 records
Feature5 records
Handshake partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- OpenAIcorePartnership to help students create with Codex. Students get free Codex credits to build AI skills and showcase work to employers. Organized the Codex Creator Challenge with 1,500+ participants.
- Top AI Labs (OpenAI and others)coreHandshake AI provides training data services to eight top AI labs including OpenAI. The company hires contractors to generate data for LLM companies, positioning itself as AI infrastructure provider.
- Colleges and Universities (1,600+)coreOfficial partnerships with 1,600+ educational institutions including 90% of top-ranked US colleges. Universities use Handshake as their career center platform, providing verified student accounts.
- OpenAI (Codex Creator Challenge)minorCo-organized the Codex Creator Challenge, a software development competition where students built AI-powered apps using OpenAI's Codex. One student finalist developed BeforeYouSign, an AI app analyzing lease agreements.
Scale indicators10 records
Recent moves8 records
Expansion highlights6 records
Handshake competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Surge AI: AI data labeling platform focused on expert annotation and evaluation for frontier AI labs. Competes with Handshake AI for the same expert-fellow talent pool and AI lab customer relationships.
- WayUp: Direct competitor focused on college students and recent graduates for internships and entry-level roles. Closely matches Handshake's core student-facing value proposition and early-career employer customer base.
- RippleMatch: Early-career recruiting platform using AI-driven matching between college students and employers. Directly competes with Handshake's intelligent matching and employer subscription offerings in the same Fortune 500 customer segment.
- Scale AI: Leading AI data labeling and evaluation provider serving frontier AI labs including OpenAI. Directly comparable to Handshake AI's data labeling, RLHF, and evaluation services for large language model developers.
- Symplicity: Provider of career services and student-success platforms to universities. Closely comparable to Handshake for Institutions, with similar career-center software functionality and FERPA-compliant student data infrastructure.
- 12twenty: Career services platform used by universities and business schools to manage recruiting, job postings, and student outcomes. Competes head-to-head with Handshake for Career Centers at the institutional software layer.
Broad incumbents
- Glassdoor: Jobs and recruiting platform integrated with employer reviews and salary data. Overlaps with Handshake's employer branding and candidate discovery offerings for early-career job seekers researching employers.
- Indeed: Leading global job search engine and recruitment platform. Competes with Handshake's employer job-posting and candidate-matching value proposition, especially for SMB and mid-market employers hiring entry-level talent.
- LinkedIn: Largest professional network and recruiting platform globally. Overlaps with Handshake across job matching, employer branding, and student/alumni recruiting, but serves all professional levels rather than specializing in early-career talent.
- ZipRecruiter: AI-driven job marketplace targeting SMB and mid-market employers. Offers tiered employer subscriptions similar to Handshake's Pro and Enterprise tiers and competes for the same entry-level hiring budgets.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat6 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Handshake social profiles
Digital presenceHandshake compliance and trust
Trust signalCompliance3 records
Handshake financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Handshake leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles24 records
Handshake subsidiaries and ownership
Company hierarchySubsidiaries2 records
Handshake funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds8 records
Investors19 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Handshake M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A4 records
Investments1 record
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Handshake
What does Handshake do?
Handshake operates a three-sided AI-powered career marketplace connecting 25 million college students and recent alumni, 1,600+ educational institutions, and 1 million employers. The platform delivers personalized job matching, dynamic profiles, ATS integration for employers, and career center management tools. Handshake AI Fellowship extends the platform by connecting 100,000+ domain experts with frontier AI labs to generate training data for large language models.
Is Handshake a public or private company?
Handshake is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Handshake founded?
Handshake was founded in 2014. It employs 501 to 1,000 people.
Where is Handshake based?
Handshake is headquartered in San Francisco, United States, in the North America region.
How does Handshake make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Employer Subscription Plans are the primary driver. The others are promoted Jobs, AI Training Services (Handshake AI) and enterprise ATS Integration.
Who are Handshake's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Surge AI, WayUp, RippleMatch, Scale AI, Symplicity and 12twenty. Broad incumbents are Glassdoor, Indeed, LinkedIn and ZipRecruiter.
Does Handshake have an API?
No public API is recorded for Handshake.
What industry is Handshake in?
Handshake's product category is Online Recruiting Marketplace. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAFAMAL, Internship/Apprenticeship Matching & Work-Based Learning Platforms, with a secondary code of EDAFAMAN, Mentoring, Coaching, Alumni Networking & Peer Support Platforms. Its NAICS code is 611710 and its SIC code is 7361.