Deutsche Bank bets VC money on Canadian fintech SkyHive

Canadian cloud-based workforce management software provider SkyHive has received a sizeable investment from Deutsche Bank.

While the exact amount was not disclosed, the investment will largely support the company’s European expansion strategy, while also backing its global operations.

The collaboration will also benefit Deutsche, aiding the bank in its ambition to upskill its workforce and attract new talent to keep pace with its digital transformation.

“Enterprises and communities that are alert to the advancements in strategic workforce solutions can radically transform top and bottom-line growth trajectories by unleashing their workforce’s full capacity,” said SkyHive CEO Sean Hinton.

“Who you hire, where you hire, what you pay, who you deploy and how you compete are just a few examples of key business decisions that hinge on a deep, continuous and accurate understanding of your constituents’ skills.

Our technology uniquely enables this mission-critical capability, and therefore was a strong rationale for Deutsche Bank’s investment.”

Following the investment, SkyHive is now the twenty-first portfolio company of Deutsche CVC, the German financial giant’s venture capital incubator.

The VC arm has previously invested in the likes of data lake Access Fintech, collateral management software provider CloudMargin, SaaS-based payments provider MODO, blockchain specialist R3 and trading platform WeTrade, focusing on fast-growing, emerging technology specialists for the financial industry.

SkyHive is notable for its use of natural language processing and machine learning to provide a granular breakdown of employees’ skillsets and identify any talent gaps and areas for upskilling to meet the emerging skill requirements.

The company last raised funding in October 2021, securing $40m from four investors through its series B financing round. Proceeds from the funding were used to expand SkyHive’s customer base.

Human resources technology has seen growing demand in recent years following the accelerated development of the wider technology industry and an increasing number of employees working from home.

According to a report by ResearchAndMarkets.com published in October 2021, the global people analytics market is expected to reach $4.24bn by 2026, growing 13.08% from $2.03bn in 2020.

Israeli competitor Hibob earned a unicorn status in October last year after it raised $150m in Series C funding round.

Most recently, US people analytics platform provider ChartHop expanded its automated workflow services with the acquisition of Gather.

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