HR-tech startup Leena AI raises $30 mn in Series B funding led by Bessemer

By Anuj Suvarna

  • 29 Sep 2021
Credit: 123RF.com

HR-tech startup Leena AI said on Wednesday it has raised $30 million (about Rs 222 crore) in a Series B funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners.   

The round also saw existing investor Greycroft and Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin's B Capital Group.    

The round takes the total amount of funds the company has raised so far to $40 million, Leena AI said in a statement.   

Since announcing Series A financing eight months ago, Leena AI said it has added new customers including Bayer, Al-Jazeera, HDFC Bank, Reserve Bank of India, Houston Methodist, Odessa, and Icertis. The company has also achieved 300 per cent year-on-year revenue growth, it added.   

With Leena AI, companies can eliminate the need for HR staff to work on tasks such as answering policy-related questions, knowledge management, generating employee documents on demand, and managing employee tickets. 

“HR is an area in desperate need of disruption, with many slow manual processes overwhelming HR departments. The Leena AI team has been able to bring HR into the modern era through automation and machine learning, enabling better employee engagement,” said Mark Terbeek, partner at Greycroft, who joined Leena AI’s board as part of the funding deal.   

Alan Patricof, a former top executive of Apax Partners, founded Greycroft in 2006. The venture capital firm has offices in New York and Los Angeles.   

Bessemer had closed its new fund at $1.85 billion in 2018.  

The global investment firm had planned to invest roughly 30% of the total corpus in international markets (India and Israel). Its investments in India include Cashify, Remedinet, MyGlamm, Lentra, LivSpace, DocsApp, and PharmEasy.  

There are a few startups operating in the HR and performance management space in the country.   

In July 2021, HR-tech startup Talview Inc raised $15 million in Series B funding led by Eileses Capital. Talview works with companies such as Amazon, Reliance Digital, HCL and has partnered Accenture, Allianz, Best Buy, Cognizant, Enel Group, City & Guilds, Cambridge Assessments, and the British Council.   

In December last year, employee management platform PagarBook raised $15 million (Rs 110 crore) in its Series A round of funding led by existing investor Sequoia Capital.