Investments in the human resource (HR) space has seen increasing traction in recent times with leading venture capitalists investing over INR 1000 crore in the promising HR start-up segment. Spearheading the investment momentum, The HR Fund, an investment company dedicated to investing in HR startups, recently awarded four companies in the areas of the areas of recruitment, analytics, technology, and talent management. More than 90 companies vied for the coveted Spotlight Awards this year. In the start-up category, RippleHire took the prize for Futurism in HR Analytics. Tharakan Web Solutions won the award for Futurism in Recruitment, while KNOLSKAPE took the honours for Futurism in Talent Management. Innovative products still in the conceptualization stage competed in the Seed category where TalentWoot bagged the spotlight.
The jury members included Manish Sabharwal, Co-Founder, Team Lease; Shalini Pillay, Head People performance and Culture – KPMG; Rajesh Ranjan, Partner – Everest Group; Sanjeev Prasad, CIO – Genpact; Rahul Khanna, Co-Founder and Managing Partner – Trifecta Capital; Maninder Gulati, Principal – Light Speed Ventures and Vipul Singh, Head of HR – ADP. The selection process was tough with an online application form, followed by multiple jury deliberations to shortlist further. This resulted in the final shortlist of 12 startups, whose founding teams presented to the jury on the day of the awards. The HR technology solutions were judged on its impact on the business problem that it catered to, besides its scalability and futuristic value.
Commenting on applauding HR Entrepreneurship, Utkarsh Joshi, Principal – The HR Fund, said, “It gives me great pleasure to be part of this initiative. These awards capture ideas in HR space, which are transforming recruitment, talent management, employee collaboration, and empowering the HR function to take data driven decisions.” He further added, “All of these Startups have the potential to impact India’s workforce directly and are central to organizational growth. What better than supporting and recognizing innovation in this space!”
The HR Fund powered the Spotlight Awards at the recently concluded HR tech conference in Gurgaon to identify, applaud and recognize Startups with niche technologies capabilities – which are transforming HR decision-making.
