Knoetic lands $36M to unify diverse sources of HR data • TechCrunch

The day-to-day responsibilities of the so-called Chief People Officer (CPO) have expanded dramatically over the past decade. The role has evolved from an administrative HR function to a more strategic position, especially as the pandemic draws attention to the importance of retention, upskilling and recruiting during a crisis. But despite the increased interest — CPOs are the third-fastest-growing C-level role, according to LinkedIn data — CPOs tend to lag behind sales, marketing and account executives in their approach to analyzing data.

Aims to Influence Change, Founded by Entrepreneur Joseph Quan Notick, a platform designed to provide insights on metrics such as attrition, diversity and headcount growth. Knoetic integrates with HR systems, allowing CPOs to run analytics and automatically generate reports, and it also provides recommendations, such as how to improve employee retention if the platform finds attrition issues.

Knoetic today raised $36 million in a Series B round led by EQT Ventures, with participation from Accel and Menlo Ventures. Over 200 angel investors contributed, including CPOs from Bill.com, Zapier, Box, and Calm.

“We’re not building analytics tools or another tired community — we’re building a second brain, a cybernetic augmentation that gives CPO superpowers… We envision ourselves similar to how Salesforce built the first early Cloud customer relationship management system,” Quan told TechCrunch via email, describing Knoetic’s mission in explicitly exaggerated terms. “[We’re] Continue to educate every CPO that they need data and analytics to earn respect as the next generation of people leaders. “

Image Source: Notick

The Knoetic platform can be integrated with HR information systems, applicant tracking systems, and performance and learning management applications, reflecting trends across the organization. Once upon a time, Knoetic claims to be exploring machine learning models to predict the drivers of attrition and turnover, employees who are successful or fast-moving, and employees who are at the heart of a department’s success.

Knoetic’s clients also have access to the CPOHQ Forum, where they can discuss HR-specific topics, such as budget planning and immigration policy, online and at in-person dinners, seminars, and summits. CPOHQ also hosts documentation containing best practices and playbooks contributed by over 2,000 CPO communities.

Knoetic’s clients include Credit Karma, Calm, Checkr, Mural and Synk, and while Quan didn’t disclose specific numbers, he said it was up 500% year-over-year. As Knoetic prepares to add about 12 employees to its 50-person workforce, the startup has about $50 million in funding.

“Knoetic was actually founded in the midst of a pandemic, which has provided a major boost to the company’s growth. CPOs have leveraged Knoetic’s qualitative and quantitative tools to address the severe challenges posed by the pandemic. The broader technological slowdown has also only will intensify the demand for solutions that support the strategic HR function,” Kwon said. “Our current burns have a runway for a few years.”

Even in a downturn, HR technology remains a safe bet, and Knoetic stands to benefit. data Venture capital investment in the first half of 2022 is on track to match or exceed the record $17.9 billion set in 2021, while the second quarter was the fourth-largest quarter on record for HR, with $4.6 billion in investment, according to WorkTech. Dollar.