Swipejobs buys Loudon-Harris's Expert360 in $16M cut-price deal, wiping out investors

What's the deal? SwipejobsDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →, a fast-growing AI-based recruitment firm, has acquired Australian startup Expert360 for $16 million. Investors were told in a letter on Tuesday that they had no choice but to surrender their shares, and co-founder Bridget Loudon-Harris will walk away with nothing.

Who's involved? Loudon-Harris co-founded Expert360, an online recruitment startup, in 2013. She became one of Australia's most high-profile founders and, as chief executive, the youngest director in the ASX 50.

Why now? Swipejobs is targeting an imminent listing on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). The acquisition adds Expert360 to its business ahead of that debut.

What could go wrong? The cut-price terms leave earlier backers empty-handed, a reminder of the gap that can open between a startup's early profile and its final valuation.

The signal: The deal shows AI-focused recruitment firms consolidating older platforms as they scale toward public markets — and how quickly a celebrated startup's returns can evaporate.

Image credit: Generated with Gemini