Talent management platform maker Beamery vaults to unicorn status with its latest funding round

CLOUD

Beamery Inc., the developer of a talent management platform, today announced a $50 million Series D funding round that brings its total funding to $228 million and a valuation of more than $1 billion.

The nine-year-old London-based firm has assembled an impressive roster of blue-chip clients — including General Motors Corp., Johnson & Johnson Services Inc. and Accenture plc — and says its business with Fortune 500 customers grew 250% this year.

Beamery’s software-as-a-service platform takes a full lifecycle approach to skills management, beginning before the job application process and continuing after people have left the company.

Beamery says it augments rather than replaces existing human resources management systems, pointing out that HR giant Workday Inc. is both a customer and an investor.

“We sit before and after the hiring process,” said co-founder Sultan Saidov. “We don’t touch interviewing or hiring. We touch before the interview and focus on creating a good employee experience.”

The platform also has permission-based capabilities to track and maintain contact with candidates who weren’t hired for a position as well as people who have left the company to identify opportunities for employment in the future. It can also manage benefits programs such as scholarships.

The principal focus, however, is to help companies manage their existing skill sets more effectively to improve employee satisfaction and retention. Beamery uses machine learning to analyze talent pools and surface skills that may not be evident from people’s education and work experience. “We identify what skills you’re likely to have based on the work you’ve done and offer employees career paths they perhaps hadn’t considered,” Sultan Saidoov said. The system also recommends training, gig work and promotion opportunities that are likely to keep people engaged with their employer.

The platform is built to support equal access to work and career development, said Chief Executive Abakar Saidov. “The status quo is a lack of equality,” he said. “For us, it means more than equal pay; it’s also access, opportunity and skills development.”

Taking a proactive approach to managing talent not only improves retention but encourages workforce diversity, Sultan Saidov said. “Offering career paths to employees has a disproportionate impact on those with under-represented backgrounds,” he said.

Funding was led by Teachers’ Ventures Growth, which is the late-stage venture investment arm of the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board. “They bring us a lot of alignment with our mission and vision,” Abakar Saidov said. “Access to skills and work is interesting to both of us. They are a long-term investor that will stay with us through an [initial public offering] and beyond.” Beamery was not actively looking for funding but “investors came to us,” he said.

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