HR firm Hive secures £1.2 million in funding
Published: 1 June 2022
|By North East Fund
Maven has led a £1.2 million investment into innovative employee engagement Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform, Hive HR. Funding was secured through the North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development and Maven VCTs, in order to make a succession of new hires and accelerate product development.
Maven provided £350,000 through its management of the North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund, with £250,000 provided by Maven VCTs. The remaining £600,000 was raised from private investors, management, and via the Growth Capital Ventures co-investment platform. Funding will enable Hive to invest in its sales and marketing activities and create a number of new roles to deliver on its ambitious expansion plans, whilst continuing to roll out a number of exciting product enhancements.
Hive is a cloud-based platform (www.hive.hr) that supports the HR function of organisations to help them improve employee engagement and communication. Primarily through the use of surveys or in question format, the platform collates and analyses employee feedback in real time and on a continuous basis, which serves to continually evolve and improve the HR function within a business, as well as helping to clarify and implement new policies and services for their employees.
The business already boasts an impressive client list across a number of sectors, including banking, government bodies, property and education. These include Hermes, Shop Direct, Travelodge, Tarmac, River Island and various NHS and public sector organisations.
The cloud services market has grown rapidly in recent years and a paradigm shift is currently taking place with software increasingly being deployed via the cloud. This shift is particularly prevalent in enterprise software, and HR software in particular, with 28% of global HR enterprise applications being delivered on a SaaS basis in 2017, which is forecast to increase significantly to 86% by 2022.
Managing Director of Hive, John Ryder, has spent 15 years in digital marketing and the technology sector and was previously Head of Innovation at Visualsoft, another leading technology business in the North East. John has been instrumental in building the concept, designing the product and delivering the rapid growth experienced to date.
Alex Marsh, Investment Manager at Maven, said: “The workplace is constantly evolving, and organisations must remain dynamic to ensure more than ever that they are keeping their employees happy, motivated and engaged. The Hive platform helps remove the additional burden this is creating for HR and leadership teams and is helping them respond better and more quickly to employee feedback to deliver initiatives and services to help retain and motivate staff in what is an increasingly competitive environment. John has built an impressive senior management team around him and we are delighted to support the business as it enters an exciting new phase of growth.”
John Ryder, Managing Director of Hive HR, said: “Hive has grown quickly in the last three years with very little capital. The whole team are now excited about what we will achieve with the additional backing from investors and are really pleased to welcome Maven as part of this round.”
