The HR tech sector was always big with the presence of large global players such as SAP, Work Day amongst others. Currently, the emphasis of many of the solutions in the Human Capital space is around Machine Learning. Two technologies expected to gain traction over the next few years are Facial Recognition and Blockchain and there is scope for wider applications around employee engagement, coaching and wellness. Blockchain has enormous potential across all parts of the HR life cycle particularly the administrative areas such as vetting, documentation, payroll, managing contingent workers etc. There has also been some innovative solutions using blockchain for sexual harassment and processes that need to ensure employee confidentiality. The overall trend is around improving employee productivity and engagement. But the big shift is around ‘employee democratization’ i.e. many of the solutions are aimed not just at managers but actively aimed at improving the employee experience and catering to their personalized needs.
The HR Tech Partnership was set up with the vision to invest in solutions that cater to large corporates in the HR space. Digital start-ups are booming and are beginning to attract serious attention in terms of Series B and larger deals. For us start-ups in the post seed and pre-Series A stage typically MVP fully tested, at least a couple of paid corporate clients and an ambition to be global are important. Another consideration for their selection is their partnerships with big HR technology firms/consultancies which enables scale in a shorter time. Apart from some of the usual characteristics (drive, resilience, leadership capability etc) , the HR Tech Partnership looks closely at how the co-founders complement each other in terms of skills, personality and therefore the working dynamic between them. The inclination is towards entrepreneurs who have spent time in a corporate environment either as an employee, supplier or contractor as the decision-making process can be quite different. However, the preference is not for first- time entrepreneurs. Ultimately the caliber of the founding team is still the most important factor in decision making.
How does the HR Tech Partnership Fund differ from other Investment Funds?
The fund is completely unique because of the following characteristics:
It focuses exclusively on the Human Capital space. This includes all aspects of the employee life cycle – workforce planning, resourcing, learning & development, talent management, Reward & Benefits, Wellness, and Diversity.
The Fund investors are primarily senior corporate directors who have leadership responsibility for people management and understand big enterprise needs
Once the Fund invests there is a further stage of taking the investment to a ‘crowd platform’ where other HR professionals (who may not have the ability to invest larger sums of money in the Fund) can choose to invest deal by deal

Most of the VC’s tend to look at People Tech as ‘Recruitment’. The HR Tech Partnership has an in-depth understanding of all aspects in the Human Capital space. Having a large group of domain experts as investors brings instant credibility to any start-up and there is additional assistance possible from the investors through mentoring and access to their network. Finally, as the marketing effort during the crowdfunding process is targeted at several thousand HR professionals there is huge visibility to a potential customer base.
Another advantage is being based out of London. After the Silicon Valley, the UK is the place to be for any Human Capital digital start-up. Apart from the strong talent base, great eco systems, the advantage of the English language there are many global corporates headquartered in London which brings a huge advantage. UK ranks extremely highly in terms of not just innovative solutions but also the ability to scale up. A lot of start-ups approach the HRTP when they are close to Series A but are keen on receiving funding because of the strong endorsement and visibility it gives them in their desired market.
The global human resources technology market size is projected to attain USD 30.0 billion by 2025, according to a new report by Grand View Research, Inc., exhibiting a 10.4% CAGR during the forecast period. The talent management software segment is anticipated to grow at the fastest pace and register a CAGR of 13.0% over the forecast period. So clearly, the market size is huge and is expected to only accelerate. We are geared to Invest in the technology of tomorrow impacting the Human Capital.
To learn more and participate visit www.hrtechpartnership.com