South Korean HR Automation Platform Flex Raises $32M Series B Funding And Currently Values at $287M
It is probably one of the most fruitful Asian startups as the money keeps pouring into their conviction and ideology. The latest list is Flex, the HR automation management platform based in South Korea. The company has announced to secure its Series B round funding of $287 million. The funding was led by Greenoaks and participated by DST Global Partners, putting the total valuation of Flex at $42 million currently.
Flex works on a mission to enable corporations to automate and streamline manual human resource processes and procedures to focus on people and their development. The company has developed automation tools to optimize the employee experience to offer seamless data flow across departments and groups in payroll, on/offboarding, e-signature support, and people analytics. It plans to launch performance review and talent relation management tools in the first quarter of 2022.
Haenam Chang, CEO of Flex, said, “Flex is a vision that redefines basic HR as Human Relations, not Human Resources. The company believes that HR teams deserve world-class software for managing and supporting their employees; unfortunately, many organizations today still use spreadsheets or legacy products to fulfil their HR requirements.
The Company Story
Flex, which began its operations two years ago, is likely to use the funding to scale operations to meet demands, make new advancements in HR automation and apply SaaS products to increase the headcount.
Remarkably, the company has got the funding on its excellent performance in the current year, which is almost ten times the growth from its last year's results, which further saw new product launches and added on new customers.
So far, the company is targeting SMBs in the IT sector and looking ahead to expand its serviceability to address new markets, new verticals, and new industries in the SMB space. When enquired, the company didn’t disclose any user or customer numbers.
The Prospering Future Ahead
Flex is exploring SaaS solutions to modernize the ordinary HR functioning and processes, which have witnessed slow progress in the last 20 years. According to the company sources, they are eyeing to develop a deep understanding of cultural nuances in people management and the HR regulations in South Korea to make the brand well-positioned in the country’s business ecosystem while positioning Flex as a provider of customized products to suit customized needs.
“In the South Korean business space, only a handful of companies have adopted newer HR solutions to improve their employee management while the majority of the companies are using redundant and gut-based insufficient data-based methodologies to manage employees. Flex has the vision to empower customers by offering the rightful source of employee data insights and tools to manage their people by focusing more on developing their skill sets by maximizing individual and organizational performance. The company has a goal to empower the client companies by providing them with a customized and powerful solution to track and manage the most important assets of their entities, i.e., employees.” added Chang.
“Korea is a progressive and one of the thriving global economies but still hasn’t transformed its employee management ways and tools, leaving businesses feeling the heat while embarking them onto the path to develop their homegrown solutions,” said Josh Cho of Greenoaks.
“Companies like Flex are doing damage control by rapidly contributing towards framing the country’s first next-generation human resource information system and payroll platform. Greenoaks is excited and happy to be partnering on such an initiative that envisions offering an end-to-end platform for companies to manage their HR functions in a single place, letting customer companies manage everything from performance management to recruiting, payroll, and much more,” he commented.