Recent History of Human Resources Technologies
The market is ripe for HR technology. Companies are expected to spend an upwards of $8.1 billion in 2015. In short, it’s a great time to work, invest, consult, or write about HR Tech. A couple weeks ago, the news broke that Oracle made yet another purchase in human resources technology. That’s where I got this idea to research and begin compiling this list. There has been an awful lot of activity in the human resources technology space, to say the least. Our industry, specifically recruiting, talent management, and human capital when it comes to technology is a complicated and exciting place to be especially these last 36-48 months. Doing a little research, I realized there wasn’t a comprehensive list available on the Internet for the recent history of human resources technologies, more specifically HR Tech. So I thought I should put together a list of human resources technology trends and acquisitions in our space. The current list goes back until 2004.
Company Acquisitions in Human Capital, HR, & Talent Management
This list isn’t perfect. It’s a working document that depends on you. Is there something, meaning an acquisition, merger, VC funding, or IPO that I missed? Feel free to add to the discussion and leave a comment below. I’ll verify your information and add it to the living document outlining the history and trends of human resources technologies when it comes to mergers, acquisitions and funding. (This list starts with the most recent year and moves backward broken down month by month.)
2013
January
- Bersin and Associates acquired by Deloitte for undisclosed amount.
- InternMatch adds $1.2 million in VC funding.
March
- PeopleMatter adds $19 million VC funding from Scale Venture Partners making their total fundraising total $47 million.
- PeopleMatter acquires People Clues for an undisclosed amount.
April
- LinkedIn acquires Pulse for $90 million.
2012
January
- iCims receives $35 Million in funding from Susquehanna Growth Equity
- GeHire.com raises $1.75 million in seed funding
- Smart Recruiters receives funding of $5 million by the Mayfield Fund
- Arbita closes its doors, and Broadbean Technology takes on its clients
- SAP acquires Datango for undisclosed sum
- Elance raises $16 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins, NEA And The Stripes Group
February
- Oracle Buys Taleo for $1.92 billion
- PeopleMatter secures $14 million in funding from Morgenthaler Ventures
- TalentTech acquires HR Integrations LLC for an undisclosed amount
- Ceridian purchases Dayforce for undisclosed amount
- Kenexa Corporation acquires OutStart for $38.9 million
March
- Deolitte acquires HR Technology Consultancy, Aggressor for unknown dollar amount
- Cornerstone OnDemand buys Sonar6 for $14 million
- Saba purchases HumanConcepts for undisclosed amount
- Evenbase acquires Jobrapido for undisclosed amount
- StepStone acquires Totaljobs for undisclosed amount
May
- SAP acquires Ariba for $4.3 billion
- BetterWorks shuts down
- SilkRoad secures $35 million in funding from Keating Capital and Net Finance
- LinkedIn purchases Slideshare for $118.8 million
- AllCountJobs purchased by Operations Inc. for undisclosed amount
- SilkRoad raises $35 million in series C funding from Keating Capital and NTT Finance, as well as existing investors Intel Capital, Crosslink Capital, Foundation Capital, Azure Capital and Tenaya Capital.
- Bullhorn Software acquired by Vista Equity
August
- IBM Buys Kenexa for $1.3 billion
- HireVue secures $22 million in funding from Investor Growth Capital
- HireVue acquires CodeEval for an undisclosed amount
September
- iCims buys JobMagic for unknown dollar amount
- Oracle buys SelectMinds for unknown dollar amount
- WorkDay files for $400 million IPO
- Work4Labs secures $11 million in funding from Matrix Partners
- SkillSoft purchases MindLeaders for an undisclosed amount
- CareerBuilder purchases EMSI for an undisclosed amount
- Indeed purchased by Recruit Co. Ltd for undisclosed amount
- Dice.com purchases Slashdot for $20 million.
- Appirio acquires HCM consultancy Knowledge Infusion. Amount undisclosed
- Doogstand acquires JobFox for undisclosed amount
- Glassdoor raises additional $20 million from Benchmark Capital, Sutter Hill Ventures and Battery Ventures
- One-Page Proposal raises $1.5 million in funding from Blumberg Capital, TMT Investments, and angel investors
- Bullhorn acquires MaxHire Solutions Amount undisclosed
- Bullhorn acquires Sendouts. Amount undisclosed
December
- Beyond.com acquires Jobcircle.com for an undisclosed amount
2011
January
- BetterWorks secures $2.5 in seed funding
- SumTotal Systems acquires GeoLearning for $110 million
- Taleo acquires Cytivia for $11 million
March
- SnagaJob secures $27 million in funding from August Capital
April
- Career Arc Group acquires Tweet My Jobs for undisclosed amount
- People Click acquires Acquire Solutions Inc for $100 million
- Infor buys Lawson Software for $2 billion
- Success Factors buys Plateau for $290 million
- The Corporate Executive Board Company acquires SHL for $600 million
- Taleo acquires Jobpartners for $38 million
- BetterWorks secures $8 million in funding from Redpoint Ventures
- Jibe secures $6 million in funding from Draper Fisher Jurvetson and DFJ Gotham
- OpenSesame eLearning Marketplaces receives $2 million in funding from Harmony Investments
- ADP buys RightThing for unknown amount
- SkillSoft buys ElementK for $110 million
- Lumeness (formerly StepStone Solutions) acquires Eadvantage Group
- Technomedia acquires Hodes IQ
November
December
- SAP buys SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion
- SuccessFactors buys Jobs2Web for $110 million
- SalesForce buys Rypple for undisclosed amount
- Talent Technology buys VisualCV.com for undisclosed amount
2010
February
- Berkshire Partners purchases SkillSoft for $1.2 billion
- SuccessFactors acquires Inform Business Impact for $40.5 million
- InternMatch raises $400,000 funding from 500 Startups.
March
- HgCapital acquires StepStone Software Division for $146.6 million
- Zapoint acquires Jobster for undisclosed amount
May
- Success Factors buys Cube Tree for $50 million
- Court Square Capital acquires RWD Technologies software for $190 million
August
- Automatic Data Processing acquires Workscape for $110 million
- Stepstone acquires Mr. Ted for undisclosed amount
September
- Kenexa Buys Salary.com for $80 million
- Kenexa acquires Bernard Hodes Group for an unknown sum
- Fieldglass secures $220 million investment from Madison Dearborn
- SumTotal Systems buys Softscape for $65 million
- Taleo purchases Learn.com for $125 million
- InternMatch raises $500,000 in funding from Netflix founder Marc Randolph, Roger Dickey, Angel Fund Social Leverage, 500 Startups and other investors.
December
- Symphony Technology Group acquires First Advantage for $265 million
- Lawson acquires Enwisen for $75 million
- Paychex acquires SurePayroll for $115 million
- Automatic Data Processing acquires OneClickHR for $22.9 million
2009
April
- Vista Equity Partners acquires SumTotal Systems for $120 million
May
- Batrus Hollweg International purchases Clickable Software for an undisclosed amount
- Blackboard purchases Angel Learning for $95 million
June
- Vertical Computer Systems purchases Priority Time Systems for $63 million
- Intuit buys PayCyle for $170 million
- Dice purchases AllHealthcareJobs.com for $3.75 million
September
- Bedford Funding acquires Peopleclick for $97 million
- Taleo acquires Worldwide Compensation for $16 million
- Axel Springer AG purchases StepStone ASA for $141.9 million
2008
February
- AIRS acquired by The Right Thing for undisclosed amount
May
- Taleo Corporation purchases Vurv Technology for $128.8 million
June
- Altegrity acquires HireRight for $148 million
July
- Ebix acquires Acclamation Systems for $21.2 million
- Monster buys Trovix for $72.5 million
September
- Bedford Funding buys Authoria for $57 million
- Standard Life PLC purchases Vebnet for $37.4 million
October
- Broadbean Technology purchased by Daily Mail for an undisclosed amount
November
- SilkRoad acquires VTN Technologies for undisclosed amount
2006
December
- StepStone Solutions acquires ExecuTRACK for undisclosed amount
2005
October
- SilkRoad acquires Human Asset Technologies for an undisclosed amount
2004
May
- SilkRoad acquires OpenHire Software for undisclosed amount
December
- Oracle acquires PeopleSoft for $10.3 billion.
Was there a human capital or HR technology acquisition, merger, or purchase I missed? Leave a comment below and we’ll add it to this living list. Don’t forget to checkout our HR Technology and Product Reviews. We demo and give you the real skinny on great products in the HR and workplace space.
Article by Jessica Miller-Merrell
Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is workplace technology and social media strategist. She's the founder of Blogging4Jobs.com and mom to @ryleighmerrell. Follow her on Twitter, @blogging4jobs.
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{ 19 comments… read them below or add one }
Already been brought to my attention that I missed this acquisition: @talenttechcorp acquiring @visualcv. We’ll be adding it to the list.
Nice work Jessica, I am sure a few more entries will be made for 2012!
Monster purchase of Trovix 2008?
Added. Thanks Jane!
JMM
Great list Jessica – thanks for sharing it. There are a few others by SilkRoad – Openhire, VTN Technologies and Human Asset Technologies and others by Lumesse (was Stepstone) – Edvantage Group, Mr Ted and Executrack. Sorry I did not do the research on all the dates and amounts!
Hi Craig, Thanks for the suggestions. We’ll start researching those and make the updates. Crazy just how many of these M&A’s there are in the space.
JMM
CareerBuilder acquires EMSI in September, 2012
http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr714&sd=9/10/2012&ed=09/10/2012
Thanks, Bill. It has been added.
JMM
SkillSoft acquired MindLeaders in 2012, not 2011
Thanks, Alex. We’ll make the update.
Indeed was Acquired by Recruit Co. Ltd http://www.indeed.com/pressrel/indeed-announces-acquisition-by-recruit-co-ltd.jsp
There’s also:
2012
Operations Inc. bought AllCountyJobs LLC
http://blog.allcountyjobs.com/post/24130414948/human-resources-consulting-firm-operationsinc
Evenbase Acquired Jobrapido
http://www.recruiter.co.uk/news/2012/04/jobrapido-acquisition-supercharges-evenbase/
2011
Taleo Acquired SonicRecruit Maker, Cytiva
http://www.ere.net/2011/02/01/taleo-acquires-sonicrecruit-maker-cytiva/
2010
Zapoint Bought Jobster
http://www.ere.net/2010/04/05/zapoint-buys-jobster/
2009
Dice Acquired AllHealthcarejobs.com
http://www.ere.net/2009/06/11/dice-acquires-healthcare-job-board/
2008
AIRS Acquired The RightThing
http://www.ere.net/2008/02/18/airs-acquired-by-therightthing/
Hello, Neat post. There is a problem along with your website in web explorer, would test this? IE nonetheless is the marketplace chief and a good part of folks will miss your magnificent writing because of this problem.
Hi Friley,
Thanks for the comment. Maybe I’m wrong but I’m not too worried about Internet Explorer. Wordpress isn’t 100% on everything. The site looks good on Safari, Chrome, and FireFox as I’m able to test them myself being a Mac users. Most of my readers don’t access the site on this and to be honest, it’s kinda lame. Remember those Netscape days?
JMM
You seem to have missed Oracle’s acquisition of PeopleSoft in 2005, but perhaps that was enough bigger than just HCM that you chose to leave it out?
Thanks Naomi. Adding that right now. It should be on the list.
JMM
IPO for Halogen Software in April, 2013. Saba possible delisting on NASDAQ, April 2013.
Also note, Kenexa did not acquire Bernard Hodes Group. That is an incorrect entry. Technomedia purchased Hodes iQ from Bernard Hodes Group in September 2011 (already noted).
Hi Shawna,
Thanks for the information. You are correct and I made the update to reflect this information.
JMM
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