Maimai

What Maimai does

Maimai (脉脉) is a China-based professional social networking and HR technology platform founded in 2013 and operated by Beijing Taoyou Tianxia Technology Development Co., Ltd. (北京淘友天下科技发展有限公司). The company combines a community-driven professional social network with recruitment services, enabling job seekers to discover opportunities via internal referrals while providing enterprise HR departments tools for talent sourcing, employer branding, and recruitment marketing. Beyond core recruitment, Maimai serves sales and business development professionals with decision-maker mapping and operates an anonymous workplace discussion forum (Maiyan/职言) and a professional learning platform (Mai Class/脉课堂). The platform serves individual professionals seeking career advancement, enterprise employers and HR teams, and sales/B2B professionals, with named enterprise customers including Facebook (Meta), Baidu, Tencent, and Bilibili.

The platform's core technology centers on social graph mapping through two proprietary features: "Five Same Relationships" (打通五同关系), an algorithm that activates strong professional connections across shared school, workplace, industry, location, and interest dimensions; and "Three-Degree Connection Expansion" (突破三度人脉), which enables users to navigate beyond traditional three-degree professional networks to reach decision-makers. A data infrastructure tracks and analyzes job posting trends across companies — including a reported 29-fold increase in AI job postings from January 2024 to July 2025 across 1,000+ AI companies recruiting nearly 72,000 positions — feeding the Talent Intelligence analytics product.

Maimai monetizes through six revenue streams, five of which are subscription-recurring: Talent Bank (recruitment), Talent Intelligence (analytics), Enterprise Accounts (employer branding), Expert Network (B2B knowledge), and Sales Intelligence / Tuoke Tong (拓客通, business development), supplemented by Digital Marketing advertising. The company has raised approximately $300 million across five disclosed funding rounds between 2013 and 2018 from investors including 5Y Capital, IDG Capital, DCM Ventures, DST Global, and Qianhai Wutong Mergers and Acquisitions Funds. Operating solely within mainland China (single-country footprint), Maimai distributes via mobile app (iOS/Android) and web, with enterprise sales for Talent Bank, Enterprise Accounts, and campus recruitment portals. Founder & CEO Fan Lin leads the company.

Name

Maimai

Legal name

北京淘友天下科技发展有限公司

Website

https://maimai.cn

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Maimai (脉脉) is a China-based professional social networking and HR technology platform founded in 2013 that combines community-driven networking with recruitment, employer branding, talent analytics, and B2B sales intelligence for individual professionals, enterprise HR teams, and sales/business development users across mainland China.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Professional Social Networking & HR Technology

NAICS

Employment Placement Agencies (561311)

SIC

Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Professional & Career Networks (BPAMABAB)

akta.pro secondary industry

Career Services & Job Placement Platforms (Jobs, Recruiting, Employer Networks) (EDAFAMAM)

Keywords

• Professional social networking
• Talent recruitment platform
• Employer branding services
• B2B sales intelligence
• Career networking platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Beijing

HQ country

China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Talent Bank (人才银行): Digital recruitment services connecting employers with job seekers through the platform's professional network
2. Talent Intelligence (脉脉人才智库): Analytics and insights platform providing market intelligence on talent trends for enterprise clients
3. Digital Marketing (脉脉数字营销): Brand marketing services within the professional community platform targeting career-oriented users
4. Enterprise Accounts (企业号): Employer branding and recruitment management tools for companies to promote their employer brand to professionals
5. Expert Network (脉脉专家网络): B2B knowledge learning platform connecting professionals with industry experts
6. Sales Intelligence (拓客通): Business development tool helping sales professionals find and connect with decision-makers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Maimai operates a professional social networking platform that combines career community features with recruitment, employer branding, and B2B sales intelligence tools. The platform enables job seekers to build professional identities, expand networks via proprietary 'five-connection' and 'three-degree connection' algorithms, and apply through internal referrals, while enterprises use dedicated products (Talent Bank, Talent Intelligence, Enterprise Accounts, Digital Marketing, Tuoke Tong, Expert Network) to source talent and market their employer brand.

Product overview

Maimai (脉脉) is a professional social networking and HR technology platform operated by Beijing Taoyou Tianxia Technology Development Co., Ltd. The platform operates as a unified ecosystem combining a professional social network with talent recruitment services. The core offerings include: the Maimai Community (professional social network), Talent Bank (recruitment platform), Talent Intelligence (data analytics/research), Digital Marketing (employer branding), Expert Network (B2B knowledge platform), and Enterprise Accounts. Key social features include 'five connections' (五同关系) for relationship building, 'three-degree connections' (三度人脉) for network expansion, internal referral求职 (internal referrals), and rapid talent/decision-maker discovery. The platform serves both individual professionals seeking career advancement and enterprises looking to recruit and market to talent.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Maimai Talent Bank (脉脉人才银行)

Quantifiable outcome

• AI job postings on the platform surged 29-fold from January 2024 to July 2025, with over 1,000 AI companies recruiting nearly 72,000 positions

Named customers4 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• LinkedIn: The global benchmark for professional social networking with integrated recruiting, talent intelligence, and sales solutions. Most directly comparable peer in product concept and target audience, though LinkedIn operates globally while Maimai focuses on China.
• Boss Zhipin (BOSS直聘): China's leading mobile-native direct-chat recruitment platform with a massive active user base and publicly listed status. Directly competes with Maimai in Chinese online recruitment, with a more transactional/chat-based model versus Maimai's social-graph approach.
• Liepin (猎聘): Hong Kong-listed Chinese professional recruitment platform focused on mid-to-senior level talent. Competes with Maimai's Talent Bank and Enterprise Account offerings in the Chinese mid-market and professional recruitment segment.
• Zhilian Zhaopin (智联招聘): One of China's largest traditional online recruitment platforms, offering job postings, campus recruiting, and HR services. Competes with Maimai primarily in high-volume employer recruitment and is a broad incumbent in the same market.
• 51job (前程无忧): Long-established Chinese recruitment and HR services platform that recently went private. Competes with Maimai in the broader Chinese recruitment market, though with a more traditional job-board orientation rather than social-graph driven.
• Lagou (拉勾): China-focused tech and internet vertical recruitment platform. Competes with Maimai for technology-sector recruiters and job seekers, particularly in developer and product roles, though Lagou lacks Maimai's social networking layer.

Emerging players

• Moka: Chinese AI-driven HR technology company focused on recruitment automation and ATS solutions. Adjacent to Maimai's enterprise offering, providing complementary recruiting infrastructure rather than a candidate-facing social network.

Broad incumbents

• Glassdoor: Global employment and company reviews platform owned by Indeed/Recruit. Comparable to Maimai's anonymous workplace discussion feature (Maiyan/脉言) and employer branding tools, though operating at a different geographic and language scope.
• Indeed: Global leader in job search and recruitment advertising, part of Recruit Holdings. Competes with Maimai's recruitment advertising and Talent Bank products at the broadest level, though without a professional social graph.

Regional players

• Xing: Europe's leading professional social network, comparable to Maimai in model but operating primarily in German-speaking markets. Useful as a structural analog for understanding how regional professional networks compete with LinkedIn globally.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds5 records

Investors5 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Maimai