Human Resources Industry: Southeast Asian Investors That Take Part in The Most Funding Rounds

Intro

Given the rapidly changing nature of the workforce, it is no surprise that the Human Resources industry has become one to watch for many. Projects in the industry will provide a range of options both to employers and to employees. The field includes (but is not limited to) anything related to recruitment, skill assessment, employment, and retirement. Many employers are looking for ways to efficiently manage employee life cycles and administer employee benefits, which also falls under the Human Resources industry. Ultimately, the industry is focused on managing human resources in a way that will result in organizational growth.

The necessity for human resources management is consistent across different countries and continents with employers always looking for more effective and efficient ways to keep their companies running. Human Resources is a field that is only expected to grow in the coming years, with Grandview Research estimating the market’s annual growth rate at 11.7% from 2020 to 2027. As the industry continues to expand, investors will be looking for startups to break out in the field, especially ones that introduce new methodology or technology to the industry.

The article and chart below are focused specifically on VC funds and corporate investors in Southeast Asia that are actively investing in the Human Resources industry and have been over the course of the past 5 years. Outlined below are the top 10 investors in the region, calculated according to the total number of funding rounds they have participated in. The total amount of funding rounds in Human Resources is 14, accounting for 2.5% of the total number of rounds in Southeast Asia over the last 5 years.

Human Resources Industry: Southeast Asian Investors That Take Part in The Most Funding Rounds
data provided by Unicorn Nest

Key takeaways

• Funds Geography – The most number of funds from the sample are located in the Philippines, which hosts 3 funds. Funds are also found in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Indonesia. No city grouping tendencies could be discerned in the sample, as all funds are based in different cities. Furthermore, no investment geo-focus for VCs in the sample was found, meaning that all of the given funds have invested in startups from different countries. However, the majority of the funds tended to invest in startups from the country of their establishment.
• Industry Focus – Most commonly, the funds invest in startups in the Finance industry, however, they are also willing to invest in Gamification, E-Commerce Platforms, and Telecommunications.
• Important Years – The founding years for funds in the sample range from 2001 for the oldest and 2019 for the newest. The most amount of funds were founded in 2016. 4 VCs in the sample made the most deals in 2020, however, 2019, 2017, and 2015 also yielded a lot of deals for some of the funds in the sample.
• Investments – VCs in the sample usually take part in 2 or 2-6 funding rounds per year. The number of funding rounds of VCs in the sample ranges from 4 to 53, with the average falling towards the middle at 25.4 rounds and the median remaining fairly close to it at 22.5. In terms of lead investments, the amount for funds in the sample ranges from 0 to 21, however, the average falls closer to the lower end of the spectrum at 8.1 and the median dips even lower at 6.0. Most commonly, the number of lead investments amounts to 5. The index of difference in percentage points of lead investments from the average is able to tell us how likely these funds to act as lead investors. For this sample, it ranges between -71.0 and 29.0, with the average falling at -8.28 and the median being at 2.38. This data shows that these funds will act as lead investors less often than other funds. However that is not to say that the funds will not act as lead investors at all, especially given as one of the funds in the sample, ScaleUp Malaysia, has participated exclusively in lead investments since their founding.
• Typical Rounds – Funds in the sample will most commonly invest at the Seed and Early stages, with investment at Late and Secondary Market stages being less frequent. VCs will typically participate in rounds with 1-2 investors, less so in rounds with 2-3 investors. The most common average round size for these is less than 100 thousand, however, 100 thousand-1 million is also frequent. A fund’s average multiplier for portfolio companies at the last known valuation ranges from 0.0 at minimum and 0.41 at maximum. The average falls closer to the lower end of the spectrum at 0.08 and the median even lower at 0.02. Most commonly, the multiplier value for funds in the sample is 0.0