Recent History of Human Resources Technologies

A Brief History of #HRTech Fundings, Mergers, & Acquisitions

Scroll down to read more!

A Brief History of #HRTech Fundings, Mergers, & Acquisitions

Scroll down to read more!
Recent History of Human Resources Technologies

Table of Contents

*Last updated as of August 9, 2016. I added the graphics you see from CB Insights and WSJ to illustrate the growth we’ve seen in the space. Learn more about the HR technology industry by purchasing, Jessica’s book, “The HR Technology Field Guide.” Click here to buy. 

Recent History of Human Resources Technologies

The market is ripe for HR technology.  Companies are expected to spend an upwards of $15 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.

The above graphic from CB Insights demonstrates the funding growth we have seen over the last years in the HR technology industry. As companies are investing more in HR and recruitment technologies so too are hedge funds and venture firms who recognize a great opportunity when they see it.

This graphic below, shows investment levels going back as far as 1998. You can really see the growth, change and the ebbs and flows of the larger economic marketplace. Keep in mind this graphic only shows the first half of Q1 where the above graphic includes all investments for 2015.

 

hrtechinvestmentwsj

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.) 

2016

January 

February 

May

June

July 

August

2015

January 

February 

  • Parklet.co raises $1.5 million in seed funding led by Storm Ventures

March 

April 

May

June

July

August

September 

  • CorTech acquired by RecruitPro for undisclosed amount
  • Korn Ferry to acquire Hay Group for $252 million
  • Randstadt acquires RiseSmart for undisclosed amount
  • Simppler raises $1.2 million in Seed round led by Greylock Partners, Correlation Ventures, and zParks Capital
  • Mercer acquires Comptryx for undisclosed amount

October

2014

January

  • OpenSesame lands $8 million in Series A funding led by Partech Ventures

February

  • RiseSmart secures $11 million in Series B from Northwest Venture Partners
  • Smarterer raises $1.6 million in funding. Total raised $4.6 million
  • ZenPayroll raises $20 million in Series B funding from General Catalyst Partners and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

March

April

  • Qualtrics secures $150 million Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital, Accel Partners, and Insight Venture Partners

May 

June 

July 

  • Jobsandtalent raises $14 million in Series A funding led by Qualitas Equity Partners, Kibo Ventures, FJME Ventures and business angels Pelayo Cortina Koplowitz and Nicolas Luca de Tena
  • Greenhouse raises $7.5 million to close Series A funding round. Led by Resolute Ventures and Felicis Ventures joined the round alongside Social+Capital Partnership. (Earlier announcement raise of $2.7 million in November 2013)

August

September

  • BetterWorks (under new leadership) raises $15 million in Series A led by John Doerr and Bing Gordon of Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byer. The prior BetterWorks shut its doors in October of 2012

October

November

December

2013

January 

  • GroupTalent snags $1 million in funding led by Version One Ventures and Founders Co-op, with contribution from Menlo Ventures
  • Pluralsight raises $27.5 million in Series A led by Insight Venture Partners to grow their technical education training company

February

March

  • PeopleMatter adds $19 million VC funding from Scale Venture Partners making their total fundraising total $47 million

April

June

  • TalentWise snags $25 million from a Seattle based equity group

July 

August 

September

  • HireVue receives $25 million in Series D funding led by Sequoia Capital
  • Jibe secures $4 million in credit from Silicon Valley Bank

October

  • NetSuite acquires TribeHR, creating the first integrated cloud ERP and HCM Suite for Small and Mid-Sized Businesses
  • Dice acquires GetTalent for undisclosed amount
  • Greenhouse Software Inc. raises $2.7 million led by Resolute VC
  • gatherDocs obtains $100,000 in early stage funding from Ben Franklin Technology Partners
  • SL8Z raises $50,000 in CIT Gap Funds
  • BountyJobs raises $4.51 million in series D funding led by Greylock Partners

November

  • Greenhouse raises $2.7 million led by the Social Capital Partnership

December

  • Glassdoor.com obtains $50 million in Series C funding led by Tiger Global Management 
  • Pymetrics, a recruiting gamification company obtains $2.5 million in funding from Khosla Ventures and angel funders

2012

January 

February 

  • EmployInsight secures $1 million in funding from Founder Collective, Launch Capital, Sean Glass, Phil Bronner, Jarrod Yuster, David Cohen, Gus Fuldner and other angel investors

March

  • Deolitte acquires HR Technology Consultancy, Aggressor for unknown dollar amount
April

May

  • 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
June

August

September 

  • BountyJobs raises $5 million in series C funding led by Greylock Partners
October
  • MyEdu raises $20 million in funding from Bain Capital Ventures and its strategic investor, The University of Texas
  • getTalent raises $2.6 million in funding led by Success Factors
November

December 

  • UpMo closes but no public announcement made

 2011

January

February

March

April

June
  • The Corporate Executive Board Company acquires SHL for $600 million
  • Identified snags $21 million Series B funding led by VantagePoint Capital Partners

July

August
September
  • Technomedia acquires Hodes iQ and partners with Bernard Hodes, part of Omnicom Group
October

November

December 

2010

February

March

April

May

August

September

  • InternMatch raises $500,000 in funding from Netflix founder Marc Randolph, Roger Dickey, Angel Fund Social Leverage, 500 Startups and other investors

October

December

2009

February 

April

  • Workday secures $75 million in Series E funding led by Greylock Partners

May

June

September

December

2008

February

May

June

July

September

October

November

2007

March

April

July

December

2006

October

December 

2005

March

October

December

2004

May

August

October

December

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 fReviews.  We demo and give you the real skinny on great products in the HR and workplace space.  

Did you like this post? Share it!

42 Comments

  1. 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!

  2. 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?

  3. 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).

  4. Fantastic article! Thanks for assembling this list. I’ve been waiting for someone to pull together a comprehensive overview of the space. One to add to the list – Smarterer raised $1.6M in February 2014 (Total: $4.6M) from Google Ventures, True Ventures and Rethink Education to bring consumer-friendly skill assessments to the enterprise (http://blog.smarterer.com/smarterer-raises-16mm-to-develop-flock-teamsourcing-enterprise-skills-assessment-platform).

  5. Hi Jessica,

    I’ve followed your list and comments for some time now, great info and insight, i feel this one shoudl figure on it as it confirms a trend of HR Service providers expandign into assessment technology .

    Hay Group Announces the Acquisition of Talent Q, Providers of High Quality Online Psychometric Assessments, Training and Consultancy Services Combined Company Sets a New Benchmark for Talent Assessment
    Sydney, 16 April, 2014 – Hay Group, the global management consultancy, today announced that it has acquired leading online psychometric assessments, training and consultancy services provider, Talent Q. The acquisition adds to the already strong assessment services Hay Group offers clients as part of its broader people-related advisory services. It enables the firm to provide objective and actionable insights about applicants and employees at all levels in an organisation.

    Ben

  6. We thought of a few more since chatting –

    Infor’s acquisition of PeopleAnwers, 2014, http://www.infor.com/company/news/pressroom/pressreleases/PeopleAnswers/

    LinkedIn acquired Bright.com for $120m, 2014, http://www.businessinsider.com/linkedin-buys-brightcom-for-120m-2014-2

    Netsuites acquisition of TribeHR, undisclosed, 2013, http://www.netsuite.com/portal/press/releases/nlpr10-22-13.shtml

    Infor acquired Workbrain in 2007 for $227m, http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/workbrain-acquired-by-infor-in-us227-million-deal/10317

  7. JMM, what a wonderful, organic list that just keeps getting better with additional VC and M&A activity, plus great feedback from readers.
    I have one correction to add–the acquisition of Recruitforce by Taleo appears twice–March 2005 (correct) & March 2007–but both point to the same reference:–a 2007 Taleo 10K report that says “On March 10, 2005 the Company acquired Recruitforce.com (“Recruitforce”)… for approximately $3.9 million in cash.”
    Once again, thanks for pulling this together.

  8. It looks like the reference to Kenexa acquiring Bernard Hodes Group is still listed in Dec of 2010. Previous reader pointed out that Kenexa acquired it indirectly through another acquisition the following year.

  9. Dear Jessica,

    This list looks awesome and very complete. All the companies I found in my research are included.
    I am working on a university project on exactly this topic and would be very interested if you have any insights on how those companies were valued vs their size. (i.e. revenue or profit multiples, etc.)

    Would appreciate to hear from you,

    Regards, Ben

Comments are closed.

A Word From Our Sponsors

Ads help make Workology resources free for everyone. We respect your privacy. To see our Privacy Policy click here.

Recommended Posts

27 Companies Who Hire Adults With Autism

List of companies who hire and employ adults who are neurodiverse. ...

The Costs of Form I-9 Software

Read the complexities of Form I-9 compliance software costs. We break down pricing structures, features & benefits to help HR professionals....

Episode 415: Registered Apprenticeship Programs in the Clean Energy Sector With Dr. Janell Hills

In this episode, we interview Dr. Janell Hills from IREC about developing registered apprenticeship programs in the clean energy sector....
Sanjay Sathé, Founder & CEO of SucceedSmart, is no stranger to disrupting established industries.

Q&A With Sanjay Sathé, Founder & CEO of SucceedSmart

Sanjay Sathé, Founder & CEO of SucceedSmart, is no stranger to disrupting established industries. ...
supporting caregivers: the sandwich generation at work

Supporting Caregivers: The ‘Sandwich Generation’ at Work

Are companies doing what they should to support employees who become caregivers? ...

Recruiting Reimagined: How Specialized Software Strengthens Hiring in 2024

Even during fluctuating economic crosswinds, the war for talent remains white-hot across most industries. To efficiently staff crucial openings while staying within strained budgets,...

Checkout Our Products

Ads help make Workology resources free for everyone. We respect your privacy. To see our Privacy Policy click here.

More From Workology

Recruiting Reimagined: How Specialized Software Strengthens Hiring in 2024

Click on read more to open this post on our blog.
supporting caregivers: the sandwich generation at work

Supporting Caregivers: The ‘Sandwich Generation’ at Work

Are companies doing what they should to support employees who become caregivers?
Sanjay Sathé, Founder & CEO of SucceedSmart, is no stranger to disrupting established industries.

Q&A With Sanjay Sathé, Founder & CEO of SucceedSmart

Sanjay Sathé, Founder & CEO of SucceedSmart, is no stranger to disrupting established industries.

Episode 415: Registered Apprenticeship Programs in the Clean Energy Sector With Dr. Janell Hills

In this episode, we interview Dr. Janell Hills from IREC about developing registered apprenticeship programs in the clean energy sector.