GP Bullhound is a technology advisory and investment firm that provides transaction advice and capital to entrepreneurs and founders. As dealmakers in technology, GP Bullhound provides independent strategic advice on mergers and acquisitions and private placements to entrepreneurs, companies, and investors. By combining a true passion for innovation with great access to global buyers and capital across Europe, the US, and Asia, GP Bullhound has completed transactions with many category leaders including Avito, Delivery Hero, Fjord, King.com, Pingdom, Pozitron, and Spotify. Founded in 1999 in London and Menlo Park, the firm today has 10 offices spanning Europe, the US and Asia. Their passion for technology, their financial acumen, and their understanding of the entrepreneur’s journey differentiate their advice from other investment banks. They help exceptional people build exceptional businesses to create more billion-dollar technology companies worldwide.

GP Bullhound

PSG is a growth equity firm that partners with software and technology-enabled services companies to help them navigate transformational growth, capitalize on strategic opportunities, and build strong teams. PSG brings extensive investment experience, deep expertise in software and technology, and a firm commitment to collaborating with management teams. Founded in 2014, PSG operates out of offices in Boston, Kansas City, London, Paris, Madrid, and Tel Aviv.

PSG Equity

Sesame HR

Sesame HR is the Human Resources software that helps companies that want to automate their HR processes in a centralised and secure way, make business decisions with always up-to-date information and create the best experience for their employees.  It is a multi-device tool (computer, tablet and mobile) synchronised in real time, so that you can access all the information about your team always up to date, at any time and from anywhere, as it is stored securely in the cloud to prevent loss of important data. Sesame HR is designed to keep teams always connected, communicated and informed. That's why, for any change, request or incident, Sesame's notification system sends you an alert so you can resolve it on the spot. You can customise the configuration of the automations and choose which alerts you want to receive: when an employee is inactive, has not clocked in, has exceeded the number of hours worked, etc. It has a number of features designed to help HR professionals streamline tasks and empower teams in four areas. Within time management, the tool has a time tracking system that allows employees to clock in digitally and modify their clockings when there are errors, and for managers to manage requests and keep a legally valid record of their teams' working hours. It also includes clocking-in systems such as Face ID and can be integrated with other biometric systems. Other functionalities include time off management, organising shifts and work schedules, and keeping team overtime under control. In People we find functionalities such as recruitment, which helps companies to attract the best talent; task tracking, which allows you to track the tasks of employees and the profitability of their projects; document manager, with which you can store and organise the work documents of the team in a secure and accessible way; and HR reports, which allow you to collect all the information you need to make good decisions and also with legal validity when it comes to presenting them in inspections and audits.  In Talent and Culture there is Onboarding, which facilitates the management of the onboarding process for new employees; Surveys, which allows you to create and send surveys to employees in less than 5 minutes and receive feedback in real time; and Internal Communication, a tool that includes the option to send mass communications to the entire company and an HR chat, which connects your employees with the HR team instantly. Finally, in Administration we include Meeting Room Booking, to manage meeting spaces in the office and avoid overlaps; Payroll, which simplifies the distribution of employee pay slips; and Digital Signature, which is integrated into the documents of the Document Manager where necessary to request the signature of employees.

Sesame HR offers an HR software suite covering areas of people management, talent and culture, time management, and HR-related utilities, primarily targeting companies with 10 to 2,000 employees. Sesame HR’s people management and talent-related products cover recruitment, HR reports, document management, task tracking, payroll reports, onboarding tools, employee surveys, performance evaluations, and internal communication channels. Its time management solutions include time tracking, shift management, time-off management, and overtime management.

Distributed workforces require new solutions for office operations, HR, payment, and more.

Remote Work Infrastructure

Spanish HR tech company Sesame HR raises €10M to centralised employee management

Sesame HR offers an HR software suite covering areas of people management, talent and culture, time management, and HR-related utilities, primarily targeting companies with 10 to 2,000 employees. Sesame HR’s people management and talent-related products cover recruitment, HR reports, document management, task tracking, payroll reports, onboarding tools, employee surveys, performance evaluations, and internal communication channels. Its time management solutions include time tracking, shift management, time-off management, and overtime management.Key customers and partnershipsAs of March 2022, Sesame HR operates in 30 countries and serves over 5,000 clients, including IKEA, Boston Scientific, Puma, and Stanley Black &amp; Decker.Funding and financialsIn <a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/29255">May 2024</a>, Sesame HR secured EUR 23 million (~USD 25 million) in a funding round led by GP Bullhound with participation from PSG to expand Sesame's software capabilities and extend its global reach.In<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9197?industryIds=15"> March 2022</a>, Sesame HR raised EUR 10 million (~USD 11.1 million) in a Series A funding round led by PSG, a growth equity firm focusing on middle-market software and technology-enabled services companies. PSG was expected to support Sesame's geographical expansion by leveraging its presence and expertise in operating across Europe and the US. The funds raised were allocated to enhance its offering by introducing deeper integrations with third-party tools and introducing new AI technologies to its people analytics solutions to improve personalization.

ActivTrak is a cloud-based productivity monitoring software provider. The platform offers data and analytics which can be used to detect workplace productivity gaps. The platform collects data from employee activity logs and computer screenshots, although it does not log keystrokes or record video of a user’s screen. ActivTrak also facilitates a range of tasks for admins such as blocking websites, flagging suspicious activities, IP address connections, and monitoring web, and app traffic.Other features offered include productivity reports and coaching, headcount and workload management and personal insights. In November 2023, the company added capabilities to measure the usage of AI tools, automatically detecting and classifying the use of such tools and websites to help organizations manage and improve AI adoption across the workforce.Activtrak generates revenue via monthly subscriptions (USD 10 and USD 17) per user, and custom pricing for larger enterprises.Key customers and partnershipsAs of April 2024, over 9,500 enterprises used ActivTrak’s platform, notably including Allstate, asembia and Nobu. ActivTrak closed 2023 with a 40% growth in its customer base (adding ~2,200 customers).Funding and financialsIn November 2020, ActivTrak raised USD 50 million in a Series B round led by Sapphire Ventures. Sapphire Ventures CEO and managing director joined ActivTrak’s board as part of the deal. The new proceeds were earmarked for scaling global sales and marketing campaigns, expansion of its platform using AI driven analytics, and improving integration with its technology partners.

ActivTrak

inFeedo is a people predictive analytics company based in India. The Y Combinator-backed startup founded in 2013 is currently focused on “Amber” (launched in 2016), an AI-enabled bot that helps manage employee engagement, predict attrition, and get a pulse on company culture in real time. The company also offers AI-driven exit surveys and analytics to improve retention.Key customers and partnershipsAs of April 2024, over 700,000 users across 250 organizations utilized inFeedo’s platform. Notable clients included GE Healthcare, Puma, Tata Group, and Lenovo.Funding and financialsIn its latest funding round (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9099">March 2022</a>) inFeedo raised USD 12 million in Series A funding led by Jungle Ventures, reportedly tripling its valuation from less than 18 months ago. The fresh funds will be used for its second employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) buyback for all employees and its go-to-market activities in North America. Further, the company claims it has achieved annual revenue of USD 1.6 million as of November 2020.

inFeedo

Donut provides solutions to keep employees engaged with casual conversations. Its first product, Intros, makes connections between teammates via Slack to emulate quick meetups and in-person introductions at work, which are now virtual.Donut’s new product, Watercooler, launched in October 2020. It attempts to reinvent the micro-interactions between employees at the office watercooler online. The product will integrate with Slack, where a newly-designated channel for Watercooler will be created. The product will post questions automatically within the customers’ desired frequency and pre-selected topics.The company uses a freemium subscription model with paid plans starting at approximately USD 2 per user per month.Key customers and partnershipsThe company claims it has supported four million connections (one million since the Covid-19 pandemic) across its 12,000 customers, including companies such as Okta, Zapier, Slack, The New York Times, and Invision.Funding and financialsDonut announced a USD 12 million funding round led by Accel, along with its new product, Watercooler. The USD 12 million raised was accumulated over multiple rounds before the Covid-19 pandemic, with proceeds earmarked for product development.

Donut

Matter is an employee feedback platform founded by Brett Hellman. Hellman was the founder of messaging app “Hall”, which was founded in 2011 and later sold to Atlassian for USD 20 million in 2015.Matter uses 360-degree feedback to evaluate skills in employees which are linked to career success. The platform links skills such as influence, inclusiveness, empathy, resourcefulness, and multitasking to evaluations. Matter is currently available in beta.

Matter

Mesh is a Y Combinator-backed company that allows employees to set goals, track tasks, share feedback, and engage in one-on-ones. The company also offers an AI coach (Mesh Maven) to help employees stay in line with their key objectives, improve the quality of feedback provided and summarize 1:1s. Mesh also offers nudges and surveys to improve employee engagement alongside relevant analytics.The company generates revenue via monthly subscriptions per user, priced at USD 4 (Base) and USD 7 (Premium).&nbsp;Key customers and partnershipsAs of April 2024, the company served over 100+ enterprises, including NTT Data, Grant Thornton and Groww. The platform also offers integrations with third-party software such as Gmail, Microsoft Teams and Slack, among others.Funding and financialsIn its most recent funding round (<a href="https://sp-edge.com/updates/9768">April 2022</a>) Mesh raised USD 11 million in Series A funding led by RTP Global. The fresh funds were earmarked to expand its global footprint across the US and APAC regions. In line with this, the company planned to expand its headcount across the engineering and sales departments.

Mesh

Companies offering tools to infer employee morale (through surveys and quick assessments) and productivity, including functions for goal setting, review, and feedback.

Companies that offer the entire spectrum of HR tools including payroll processing benefits, onboarding, compliance, analytics, scheduling etc

Companies providing either standalone or combined payroll and benefits services to businesses.

EoR - Companies that assist businesses in hiring distributed teams globally in compliance with foreign labor laws. EoRs become the legal employer of offshore employees. Solutions include payroll, benefits, and taxes.

PEO - Companies that offer similar services to EoRs but establish a co-employment arrangement with businesses and do not become the legal employer.

Companies offering tools such as chatbots, surveys, games, and other activities to infer, assess and improve employee morale and sentiment.

Companies that provide a centralized space for employees to access internal and external resources, enterprise applications, and enable workers to communicate across departments, and stay up to date on organizational announcements.

Solutions in this industry hub are predominantly offered under a B2B SaaS model

Employee and performance management solutions use AI/Ml to infer engagement insights and sentiment analysis

Offers tools for companies to hire contractors globally, and conduct employee and performance management

<div>
 Sesame HR, a Spanish HR software provider, has secured EUR 23 million (~USD 25 million) in a funding round led by GP Bullhound with participation from PSG.
 The company will use the funds to expand its software capabilities and extend its global reach. Sesame also has plans to introduce new verticals and launch financial features, with the aim of becoming an all-in-one HR management tool.
 Sesame is committed to offering a comprehensive hub for all HR operations, emphasizing the promotion of employee development and wellness.
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Sesame HR

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