The innovative employee engagement Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform secured funding through the Maven VCTs and the North East Development Capital Fund, supported by the European Regional Development Fund and managed by Maven.
Maven provided £350,000 through its management of the North East Development Capital 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.
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.”
One of the UK’s fastest growing economies, the North East is home to a range of dynamic businesses with highly-skilled workforces and is recognised for its strengths in a number of key industry sectors. Growing twice as fast as the rest of the economy, over £28 billion has been invested in UK tech in the last five years.
A recent report highlighted the strength of the industry in the North East, according to Invest North East England, by 2020 it is estimated the region’s technology space alone will be worth around £1.1billion. Now known as one of the fastest growing tech scenes in England, the North East’s digital community is helping to drive the growth of the UK economy as a whole.
Maven is building a track record for backing other ambitious UK software companies, which includes the mobile app developer hedgehog lab, intranet pioneers Oak, compensation management software solution provider Curo, and CRM specialist ProspectSoft.
Contact Maven's local team today to find out how to access the finance or support your business needs to unlock its growth potential or visit mavencp.com to find out more.