Recruiting Software Firm Phenom Valued in Round at $1.3 Billion

(Bloomberg) -- Recruiting and human resources software maker Phenom has raised $100 million in a funding round valuing it at $1.3 billion, its chief executive officer said in an interview.

The round was led by B Capital Group with participation from Dragoneer, OMERS Growth Equity and GoldenArc Capital, the company said.

It’s the largest funding round to date for the company, which works with clients such as Southwest Airlines Co., Newell Brands Inc., AXA SA and Radian Group Inc. Phenom’s Talent Experience Management platform relies on artificial intelligence to automate administrative tasks and personalize experiences for candidates, recruiters, employees and hiring managers, according to the company.

Last year, the platform helped 25,000 recruiters, talent marketers and hiring managers hire more than 2 million people and engage more than 3 million employees, Phenom said.

“We have rooted our platform in intelligence versus simply adding AI as a single tool or feature,” said co-founder and CEO Mahe Bayireddi. “This makes our AI dramatically different, and helps us cultivate a healthy talent ecosystem.”

Other backers of Phenom, which is based in the Philadelphia area, include Sierra Ventures, AXA Venture Partners, WestBridge Capital, AllianceBernstein, Karlani Capital, Omidyar Technology Ventures and Sigma Prime Ventures.

“There really needs to be a rethinking of how do we think about talent acquisition in the same way that we think about customer acquisition,” Rashmi Gopinath, general partner at B Capital Group, said in an interview. “No longer can companies rely on the legacy solutions to attract and retain the best talent.”

Gopinath added that, for Phenom, “going public would be some time in the not-so-distant future.”

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.