Enboarder nabs $32M to apply analytics to HR processes

HR departments today are sitting on an ever-growing pool of data, spanning productivity and personal development reviews, competency profiles, staff satisfaction surveys, and more. The sheer volume has historically made it difficult for companies to leverage the data, with a 2017 survey by Insight Avenue finding that 46% of HR professionals struggle to make better use of their people info.

But the tide has begun to turn, thanks in part to the emergence of platforms that promise to reconcile and analyze the data in an automated — or semi-automated — fashion. A 2018 KPMG report found that 82% of organizations were planning to either begin using or increase their use of big data and analytics in HR in the short term. And according to Bersin by Deloitte’s 2017 High-Impact People Analytics research, 69% of organizations with 10,000 employees or more now have a “people analytics” team.

People analytics — which Gartner defines as “the collection and application of talent data to improve critical talent business outcomes” — is what Enboarder, an HR software development company based in Sydney, Australia, claims to enable. Enboarder, which offers tools for onboarding, learning and development, change management, diversity and inclusion, and employee transition in the workplace, today announced that it raised $32 million in a series B funding round, bringing the company’s total raised to $50 million.

Data-driven HR

Enboarder was founded in 2015 by Brent Pearson, who previously cofounded HRX, a recruitment and placement process outsourcing firm. Pearson also served as GM at talent acquisition company Monster Government Solutions, VP at career platform LiveCareer, and CEO of blockchain-based customer loyalty startup Reffind.

“In the current fierce environment, only the organizations that can secure, retain, and grow the best talent will thrive. With HR playing such a critical role in this, it’s imperative that their initiatives are as effective and successful as they can be,” Pearson told VentureBeat via email. “But [t]he clunky and outdated systems HR is often associated with just won’t cut it anymore. The great thing about Enboarder specifically is also that it takes a lot of pressure off IT, as the system is built in a way that HR can be in the driver seat. Not only can HR build their own journeys out without the support of IT but they can also continuously remain agile and easily make changes and scale without relying on IT.”

Enboarder allows customers to create virtual spaces for getting to know new employees via video sharing, chatting, and calling. Through the platform, managers can coach employees and collect feedback while soliciting requests for equipment, such as laptops, uniforms, ID badges, and business cards.

Enboarder can also create reports based on workflows, people, and activities as well as visualize table data in charts and graphics. Workflow and form data can be exported from the platform through APIs or sent to stakeholders via email, and the software delivers nudges and suggestions periodically in an effort to ensure managers make use of the data that the platform collects.

“Using science and research-based features, Enboarder’s platform enables companies and their HR teams to transform their people programs into simple, personalized, and human-centric journeys for employees,” Turan said. “Whether it’s onboarding, learning and development, change management, diversity and inclusion, or employee transitions, Enboarder has reimagined how HR programs can be delivered, putting people and human connection at the center of everything we do.”

Rise in analytics

The transition to data-driven operations in HR hasn’t been seamless for every enterprise. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers report, 21% of HR leaders cited concerns over the security of critical HR data stored on the cloud as a top technology challenge. In technology projects, HR leaders point to budget and integration with other solutions as their biggest implementation roadblocks, PwC finds.

“Some organizations have become good at people analytics, but most are not there yet,” reads a 2021 HR.com study sponsored by Oracle. “Only 29% of respondents say they are good or very good at making positive changes based on people analytics, though another 35% rate themselves as ‘moderate’ in this area … [Moreover,] only 36% of respondents agree or strongly agree that their people analytics platform delivers actionable insights.”

Pearson points to Enboarder’s success as evidence to the contrary — at least among a subset of the customers that the startup currently serves. Over the past year, Enboarder — up against competitors like WorkRamp, Hibob, and Employment Hero — doubled its revenue and increased its customer base by 130% with over 400 clients including Deloitte, Dolby, Eventbrite, Hugo Boss, McDonalds, and Shopify.

“Even before the pandemic, our platform was solving for the challenges HR faces in the age of ‘overwhelm’ and with distributed workforces. The pandemic obviously took these two challenges to a whole new level, which also meant we saw a steep increase in the demand for our product,” Pearson added. “Over the past two years, employees have become more overwhelmed than ever before, while increasingly remote and hybrid work environments are leading to disconnected workplaces and employees … Continuously activating and engaging people during the entire employee lifecycle – not just during the onboarding process — will be necessary for businesses to remain competitive.”

Pearson says that Enboarder’s latest investment will be put toward international growth. With plans to double its headcount over the next year, the company — which has 125 employees — also intends to invest in infrastructure and systems to “further accelerate its global growth and expansion.”

The funding round for Enboarder was led by NewSpring, with participation from Greycroft and Next Coast Ventures, Golub Capital, Escalate Capital Partner, Alumni Ventures, and Gaingels.