These LinkedIn Rivals Made Waves—Now Is the Hard Part

Startup networking platforms Grapevine, Medial, Peerlist explore monetization strategies

- Rwit Ghosh

For startup employees wanting to rant about their bosses or run a digital reconnaissance on a firm before joining it, Grapevine has been the go-to platform for the past few years, allowing it to amass a significant number of users. Now, Grapevine, and similar platforms just a few years in existence, are nursing grander ambitions—to transform into a LinkedIn for startups.

Grapevine, which was incorporated as Watercooler Chat Pvt. Ltd in 2023, raising about $2.6 million from Peak XV Partners and Riverwalk Holdings, is planning to launch a job board shortly. "We want to give firms 10 good candidates every time they ask for one and do it faster than LinkedIn," co-founder and chief executive Saumil Tripathi said. But, Grapevine hasn't yet figured out how it will monetize its job board.

Medial, a networking platform for startup founders, investors and employees, is preparing to launch a marketplace for freelance or gig work. About "30% of our posts are people looking for someone to do some work for them," Medial co-founder and CEO Niket Raj Dwivedi said.