Networking can be fun. This professional and social network for engineers called Startup Oi can prove it. Oh, and it just raised a $1M pre-seed led by January Capital.

• Goodwater Capital, SonTech Ventures, ex-Bukalapak exec Mohammed Alabzsi, Zipgo co-founder Pritesh Gupta and ANI Pharmaceuticals CEO Nikhil Lalwani joined the round.
• It was founded by Sakshi Jawa and Rob Creekmore, formerly at top e-commerce firms Amazon, Coupang and Tiki.

💯  All-in-one for engineers

Its goal? Bridge the gap between networking and communities. It supports engineers with everything they need across their career, from finding jobs, e-learning, finding mentors, career development and fun.

• It has a waitlist of 20,000 engineers (If you're an engineer, join here!)

Why it matters. In Vietnam, there's a shortage of 500,000 IT personnel. Globally, there's a shortage of 40M developers, which will reach 85.2M by 2030.

• Strangely enough, while there are tons of jobs, engineers still struggle to find the best one for themselves— and Startup Oi solves both problems.

⚙️  How it works

Job search. Apart from listing hundreds of jobs from leading companies, it even personalizes the job search, connecting global engineers with companies.

• Right now, it's focused on Vietnam, where it's partnered with 50 companies.

Gamification. It's currently building blockchain-based gamification features for e-learning and community, including allowing users to earn in-app badges and more.

Community-building. It also has a Slack-like service in the works for its members to communicate.

🧐  The game plan

It's planning to onboard 2M engineers onto Startup Oi over the next two years, starting with Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

• With the funding, it's also looking to double down on hiring!