US-based human resources (HR) software developer Ascendify closed an $11m series A backed by subsidiaries of power and industrial conglomerate General Electric and networking hardware manufacturer Cisco on Monday.
GE Ventures and Cisco Investments invested alongside venture capital firm Canaan Partners, which led the round.
VC firm Blossom Street Ventures paid $200,000 to acquire shares in Ascendify in May 2017 as part of a secondary purchase that likely formed part of the round. Law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati is also an investor in Ascendify, according to the latter’s website.
Founded in 2012, Ascendify has developed an HR platform that uses predictive analytics and machine learning to help businesses identify the right people with the right skills to hire, and then to assess what training, guidance or motivation they may require to succeed.
The software includes applications for applicant tracking, customer relationship management, referrals, nurturing and analytics.
General Electric and Cisco were Ascendify customers before they invested, and the product is also used by corporates such as Panasonic, Marriott, Bank of Montreal and Walt Disney.
Matt Hendrickson, Ascendify’s CEO, said: “Enterprise companies see their employees as an investment. They care less about hiring people quickly and cheaply and more about finding and developing the right person for the job.
“We are helping by using predictive analytics and augmented decision-making, so companies can better understand the roles and capabilities that they are hiring for, fill gaps on their teams and develop skills with data intelligence.”