Employers continue to grapple with aligning talent potential to growth opportunity, says Waterloo’s Plum, whose digital platform helps employers make better talent decisions using “the predictive power of psychometric data.”
The Canadian company’s digital solution can be used throughout the entire employee lifecycle, from hiring to supporting internal career mobility.
To further advance product offering and market reach, Ontario-based talent assessment platform Plum this week announced a US$6 million round of growth funding.
The funding saw participation from multiple new investors including JFF Ventures, Strada Education Network, and Pearson Ventures, which led the round. Existing investors Export Development Canada, Real Ventures, BDC Capital’s Women in Technology Venture Fund, EduLab Capital Partners, and Impact Engine also contributed.
Pearson shares Plum’s focus on the importance of human skills and expertise in the workforce, according to a statement from the firms, while new social impact investor Strada Education Network supports the startup’s belief that “helping employees gain access to well-matched opportunities is personally fulfilling and professionally advantageous.”
“At Plum, we know that when people flourish, business thrives,” says Caitlin MacGregor, who cofounded the company in 2012. “Our investors are focused on the innovation that ensures companies are ready for the ever-changing world of work while keeping a watchful eye on how the quality of work connects the employee to the employer.”
MacGregor, who serves Plum as chief executive officer, says the company experienced 100% growth year-over-year in annually recurring revenue.
Moving forward, an injection of capital “will help us boost sales, marketing, and product development to accelerate growth and further Plum’s positive impact,” according to the CEO.
Jason Putnam, Chief Revenue Officer for Plum, said recently that the company’s growth exploded “across nearly every medium—from customer buy-in and industry recognition to product growth and user engagement.”
He stated in January that organizations across Canada are “reevaluating how they approach and understand talent” in an evolving market.
“Companies need, more than ever, to take into consideration the impact of every hire on the organization,” MacGregor added at the time.
Plum’s investors agree.
“We are excited by the innovation that Plum is bringing to the Talent Management space, particularly their focus on connecting individuals to the right opportunities where they’ll thrive,” stated Pedro Vasconcellos, Vice President of Pearson Ventures, the venture arm of learning giant Pearson.
“We are pleased to support Plum on the next phase of their growth and look forward to exploring various collaboration opportunities with them,” he said.
Talent assessment services are an integral part of modern “work technology stacks,” local experts report.
“Our recent global research shows that talent assessments of all kinds are being added to companies’ Work Technology stacks more than any other categories,” notes George LaRocque, founder of Ontario’s WorkTech, a tech-forward Human Resources management platform.
According to analyst LaRocque, this “reinforces the importance of having the right HR technology such as Plum in place to assess, engage, and support workers.”
Financial titan Scotiabank is among the many Canadian companies leveraging Plum’s platform to cultivate a better workplace.
