Our weekly roundup of deals, product announcements and other HR technology news.
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Qualtrics and Mercer announced a partnership to help brands better understand employee attitudes and preferences, so they can develop improved employee experience and benefits programs. The new partnership allows companies to combine the power of Qualtrics XM Platform with Mercer’s leading EX advisory services and HR expertise.
Recruiting platform Wedge launched an add-on application within the isolved Integration Marketplace. With it, Wedge brings video interviewing functionality to isolved People Cloud. Designed to support hiring at scale, Wedge and isolved, deliver fast, flexible experiences to “supercharge” the recruiting process.
In this week's #HRTech roundup: @Qualtrics, Mercer form partnership to help brands understand employee attitudes; Wedge launches within the isolved Integration Marketplace. #HR Click To TweetPaylocity acquired Blue Marble Payroll, a longtime partner providing international payroll solutions. Blue Marble currently serves about 450 clients. Its platform enables U.S.-based companies to manage payroll for employees outside the U.S. in line with complex local and country-specific requirements across more than 150 countries.
Digital coaching platform CoachHub raised $80 million in a new Series B round, increasing total Series B capital to $110 million. The money will fund CoachHub’s expansion. In the first half of 2021, CoachHub exceeded 2020’s new business generation, tripled its number of employees and added several global brands to its roster of clients.
A new startup, Solo, announced a $5.5 million seed round, according to GeekWire. Solo estimates a gig worker’s pay on an hour-by-hour basis. The predictions use aggregated historical data from Solo users, and also consider the potential impact of real-time events. The company’s long-term vision includes providing additional help to gig workers related to insurance, taxes and mileage tracking.
Forty-one percent of American organizations plan on budgeting more money for salary in 2022 than they did in this year, says Salary.com’s Annual U.S. National Salary Budget Survey. That represents the first significant shift in merit increases in the last 10 years. For perspective, last year just under 10% of organizations planned a higher salary budget increase than the previous year. For 2022, 12% of organizations intend to give 4-5% increases, versus just 7-8% percent of organizations in 2021.
Bravely, which connects users to on-demand professional coaching and development services, announced a $15 million funding round led by Telescope Partners. The money will help Bravely expand its global reach and develop new data capabilities, allowing for an improved understanding of diverse individual employee needs. In addition to new automation and personalization, this capital will also power research informing Bravely’s use of data.
CloudPay raised $58 million in new capital from a group led by The Olayan Group, along with existing investors Pinnacle Investment Partners, Rho Capital Partners and others. The funds will support CloudPay’s growth as a global provider of employee pay solutions that unify global payroll systems.
Shiftboard and Randstad partnered on an initiative to help companies struggling with persistent labor shortages to quickly secure access to skilled contingent labor. The companies said the partnership provides a retention-based staffing approach by combining Shiftboard’s workforce scheduling solutions with Randstad In-House Services (RIS), which offers onsite management solutions for high-volume contingent workforces.
YouCruit raised $11.5 million to grow Lanefinder, its labor marketplace for the U.S. trucking industry. Lanefinder provides a job search and matching platform tailored to the wants and needs of truck drivers who have historically had to rely on word of mouth referrals and general job sites to find work.
Last Week’s Top Stories
Cornerstone OnDemand to go Private as PE Firm Takes Ownership
Cornerstone OnDemand will be acquired by the private equity firm Clearlake Capital. Under terms of their agreement, Clearlake will acquire the outstanding shares of Cornerstone common stock for $57.50 per share in cash. The deal gives Cornerstone an estimated value of approximately $5.2 billion. Read more.
Paradox Strengthens Assessment Capabilities by Acquiring Traitify
Recruiting software developer Paradox said it will acquire the mobile-first assessment platform Traitify. The companies already serve joint clients including ResultsCX and McDonald’s, and work alongside HCM platforms like Workday and iCIMS. Read more.
PRO Unlimited Acquires Workforce Logiq With Eye on Enterprises
Workforce management platform PRO Unlimited will acquire Workforce Logiq at some point later this year. The company said the transaction will combine two organizations that share a common approach to solving their clients’ contingent workforce management needs through the use of a holistic platform. Read more.
Podcast: PTO Genius Takes a Fresh Look at Time Off
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