Everything you need to know about Phenom — the latest HR tech unicorn

Talent experience management company Phenom has closed a $100m Series D round. This brings the company’s valuation to $1.3bn, making it the newest HR tech unicorn.

The financing was led by B Capital Group, but Draogneer Investment Group, OMERS Growth Equity, and GoldenArc Capital also participated in the round.

The capital “further enables us to help a billion people find the right job,” wrote CEO Mahe Bayiredd in a blog post.

Founded in 2010 in Philadelphia, Phenom’s talent experience platform is powered by artificial intelligence and data.

Phenom’s technology is built on huge quantities of data and industry models to bring both automation and personalization into the recruitment process. The platform relies on 25 billion interactions every year, as well as more than one billion candidate profiles across 180 countries, 400 million jobs, and 154 million job titles.

The platform has a range of different elements and solutions, which focus on four stakeholders in the recruitment process: the candidate, the employee, the recruiter, and management.

It can provide a talent CRM, chatbots, and talent analytics, among other tools — all of which can be integrated into other HR tech platforms such as Cornerstone, Workday, LinkedIn, and Glassdoor.

Acquisition Drive

Over the past year, the company claims that its AI-powered technology was adopted by 25,000 recruiters and hiring managers, which went on to hire two million people.

Case studies include UK media company Global, which allegedly saw a 300% increase in completed applications and a 28% rise in application conversion.

MGM Resorts International also used the platform to enhance its alumni community, reportedly leading to 900 internal applications and 423 new positions filled by former employees.

After starting the year with a $30m Series C, Phenom completed its first two acquisitions. In September 2020, it snapped up California-based AI HR technology company MyAlly, an HR automation specialist.

It then went on to acquire Endouble in December. Based in Amsterdam, Endouble focuses on candidate experience during the recruitment process and the deal helped Phenom expand its market share in Europe.

In February 2021, Phenom made headlines again when it acquired German video technology company Talentcube.

A flurry of HR tech activity

Phenom’s funding round comes amid a flurry of VC activity in the HR tech space. Earlier this week, we reported on Glints’ $22.5 million Series C round led by PERSOL Holdings, a Japanese HR management firm.

Other funding news in the space include PayFit’s $107 million Series D, Lattice’s $60 million Series E, and Ginger’s $110 raise. Overall, Work Tech’s latest report found that Q1 2021 saw record amounts of investment into HR technology, with companies in the space raising $2.57 billion across 90 deals in 16 countries.

HR tech startups also had a successful Q4 in 2020. Despite the pandemic, high unemployment, and economic uncertainty, global investors doubled down on HR technology pouring $1.28 billion into the global HR tech market.