Investment in the human resource technology market is growing-recent announcements from Limeade Inc., SAP and ServiceNow illustrate this trend.
So far this year, 355 human resources technology transactions have been completed; according to a new report from the independent investment bank Alkali Partners LLC, this number is the same as the transaction volume in 2020, and there are nearly 700 transactions in 2020. The transaction constitutes a new round of financing for start-ups or mergers and acquisitions.
Shane Hubbell, founder and managing director of Alkali Partners in Portland, Oregon, said the impact of COVID-19 on talent management has helped drive some investments.
Hubbell said that HR market providers are adding capabilities to handle more global and remote recruitment and online learning tools. He added that integration is also on the rise.
“This year will continue to be a very good year,” Hubbel said, “because companies large and small must respond to COVID in a truly meaningful way.”
According to Hubbell, another aspect of a strong market is the interest of small and medium enterprises in HR technology. He said that enterprise technologies, such as performance management tools, are beginning to be more adopted by the SME market.
“They need these solutions to manage employees in remote environments,” Hubbell said.
Limeade acquires TinyPulse
The recent HR market acquisition illustrates some of the trends that Alkali’s Hubbell has noticed.
Limeade Inc., an employee experience provider in Bellevue, Washington, recently acquired TinyPulse, which provides employee benefits tools, for $8.8 million.
The number of transactions by HR technology companies represents the total investment, such as financing rounds and mergers and acquisitions tracked by Alkali Partners. 355 transactions have been completed so far this year.
TinyPulse serves smaller mid-market companies, and the acquisition “expands our target market as a company,” said Henry Albrecht, Limeade’s CEO.
But TinyPulse also adds to Limeade’s existing platform, bringing detailed input, feedback, and reporting to managers and teams over time, Albrecht said.
In general, the tools of the two companies “give employees a continuous say in what is happening in the company,” Albrecht said.
About half of TinyPulse’s 70 employees work in Seattle and the rest in Vietnam.
This year will continue to be a very good year because companies large and small must respond to COVID in a truly meaningful way.
Shane HubbellFounder and Managing Director of Alkali Partners
Market trends of ServiceNow and SAP
Limeade is not alone. Last week, ServiceNow announced that it had acquired Mapwize, an indoor map company based in Lille, France, for an undisclosed amount.
ServiceNow provides human resources and facility management tools designed to manage returning to the office. Part of these functions is the indoor map tool. ServiceNow has already included mapping capabilities in some of its products through other third-party vendors.
Deepak Bharadwaj, ServiceNow’s vice president and general manager of employee workflow, said in an email: “Through the acquisition of Mapwize, we will provide local indoor map functions for employees and visitors on their desktops or mobile devices.”
On Monday, SAP said it had acquired SwoopTalent’s intellectual property for an undisclosed amount. The company is headquartered in Oakland, California, and can integrate data from internal talent systems (regardless of the supplier) with public data (such as social media data) to create a single view of employees. According to SAP, integrated data can be used to match employees with internal work, projects, skill development, and mentors.
SwoopTalent is now part of SuccessFactors, and some of its employees have joined its engineering team.
Patrick Thibodeau introduces HCM and ERP technology to TechTarget. He has worked as a corporate IT reporter for more than two decades.
