Philippines’ AI-powered HR-tech startup Sprout Solutions raises US$1.6M led by Kickstart Ventures
Sprout’s Insight can help predict attendance levels at enterprises, based on historical attendance, weather data and information on where employees live
Sprout Solutions, a Manila-based HR-tech startup, has secured USD$1.6 million in seed funding, led by local VC Kickstart Ventures, with participation from Singapore’s VC firms Wavemaker Partners and Beenext, besides an unnamed private investor.
The startup will use the money to accelerate expansion in the Philippines around its Artificial Intelligence products for enterprise-level companies. Sprout has already invested some of the funds into a sprawling new office at the Cyber Sigma Building in McKinley Hill.
Started in 2015 by Patrick Gentry (CEO) and Alex Agbayani Gentry (CPO), Sprout targets not just startups and MSMEs, but also large businesses with its HR-tech solutions in emerging markets. Its current products include Sprout’s Payroll Pie, which provides an online payroll solution for the Philippines’ business market; Sprout HR, a cloud-based human resource information system; and CATS, a unified system that consolidates all recruitment operations in one system for hiring process.
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The firm claims to have more than 200 clients.
According to Patrick Gentry, the co-founders initially believed that only smaller to mid-sized firms would need an HR and payroll solution like Sprout. “But what we’ve found is that even the biggest companies in the country also need Sprout. The legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) products they typically use from abroad do not cater to the nuances of business in the Philippines. In contrast, we’ve built our products from day one to make it easier for Filipino businesses to do their core HR and payroll.”
The company also offers Sprout Insight, a solution that brings AI and predictive analytics to HR. “By tracking different metrics such as demographics, compensation and attendance patterns, Insight can help predict employees who are likely to leave the company within the next three months. Managers then know who to pay even more attention to, resulting in the kind of focus that can truly transform a company,” said Alex Agbayani.
According to the company, Sprout Insight also offers predictive analysis. For instance, if it rains today, the solution can help predict attendance levels, based on historical attendance, weather data and information on where employees live.
Sprout’s latest product, Sprout Recruit, focuses on easing the hiring process and increase the volume of qualified candidates for clients.
“Through Recruit, companies can do their screening automatically — a candidate chats with a chatbot to be pre-qualified for a position, and upon verification, receives a call from a voicebot. Recruiters can listen to candidate responses at their convenience. Soon, our AI will be able to match the most qualified candidates in the company’s database to a specific job opening, dramatically reducing the time it takes to find the best talent while reducing attrition rates,” Alex Gentry said.
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