The pandemic has forced almost every business to develop and improve remote work policies and procedures. And this is where HR tech startup Hibob is looking to make a difference. An Israeli startup, Hibob works to simplify people management, culture building, and employee engagement for remote and dispersed workforces.
In a recent development, the company announced that it has secured $150M (approx €129.87M) in its Series C round of funding. Hibob previously raised $70M (approx €58M) in December 2020. Since its inception in 2015, the startup has raised a total of $274M in funding.
Investors
The round was led by General Atlantic, with participation from existing investors Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Ventures, Eight Roads, Entrée Capital, and others.
As part of the transaction, Anton Levy, co-President, MD, and Global Head of Technology Investing at General Atlantic, will join the Board of Hibob. Levy says, “Hibob will mark our sixth investment in an Israel-based company in under two years, signifying our strong conviction in the country’s market.”
Streamlining HR processes
Founded by Israel David and Ronni Zehavi, Hibob offers a cloud-based human resource and benefits platform that allows companies to streamline their HR processes. The platform, named Bob, provides the department with all the technology needed to manage their workforces right from requesting documents, setting up accounts, and much more.
In a blog, the company says, “The platform allows HR leaders to manage modern organisations in their flow of work. Bob is easy to implement and adopt by teams, managers, and employees. HR can streamline core HR processes, talent, time management, and compensation management. Most importantly, Bob helps HR drive social engagement, and collaboration through a robust culture feature set and various integration capabilities, all in one platform suite.”
It also enables timesheet and attendance management, payroll reporting, surveys, time-off approvals, and company directory searches. Even though the company has its roots in Israel, it operates from London and New York.
Unlike other systems, Hibob’s implementation and uses are intuitive with no requirement for hard-coding or technical knowledge. Hibob says that Bob’s UI, automated processes, and integration with third-party tools ease administrative tasks across an organisation.
Some of its customers include Ebury Partners Ltd., G.Network, Revolut, Cazoo, Gong, Hopin, Monzo, Happy Socks, Fiverr, and VaynerMedia, among others.
Capital utilisation
Speaking on the development, co-founder & CEO of Hibob, Ronni Zehavi says, “We are targeting a massive market that is worth tens of billions of dollars, and Hibob is just beginning its mission to penetrate this opportunity. Our vision is that the ‘bob’ platform will be the last HRIS suite that mid-sized companies will ever need to purchase, and as we continue to listen to our customers, we aim to grow our solutions with them and help propel their businesses forward.”
The proceeds from this round will help the company to expand its services globally and develop innovative work tech modules designed to support customer growth.
Zehavi adds, “With this recent funding, Hibob’s plan is to invest significantly in building tools to fit organisations’ evolving needs and acquire great technologies to complement our offerings, while also expanding our global presence to reach more companies and their dispersed teams worldwide.”
Expansion in Benelux and the Nordics, and a new office in Amsterdam
Besides the funding, the HR platform also announced that it is opening its European headquarters in Amsterdam. After witnessing success in Benelux and the Nordics, Hibob is opening this office to expand in the region and support existing customer growth.
The company will be expanding its sales, presales, and customer support teams in a new office at the Weesperstraat in Amsterdam. The office will be led by the sales director for Benelux and the Nordics, Yoss Perl, who joined HiBob last year.
Perl’s goal is to expand the Benelux and Nordics team within a year to support existing customers such as WeTransfer, Happy Socks, and Ace & Tate, while expanding to support new fast-growing, mid-sized businesses in the region.
Recent developments
Hibob reports that it witnessed triple-digit revenue growth year-over-year wherein it served more than 1,500 mid-sized customers operating in more than 134 countries. The company’s offices span over North America, EMEA, and Australia. One of its main offices is located in London and employs 60 employees, representing 20 per cent of Hibob’s global employees.
This office, focused mainly on customer success, product support and implementation, marketing, sales, and G&A, is looking to grow its workforce and is looking to hire over 50 new employees by June 2022.
