The sector of recruitment and selection startups, known as HR Techs, received an impact news in the month of February. Gupy announced the acquisition of its main competitor, Kenoby.
In a note, Mariana Dias, CEO and co-founder of Gupy, said that the move is an important step towards consolidating the company as a leader in the sector. “Kenoby played a very important role in the HR Techs ecosystem and became one of the largest ATS (Applicant Tracking System) in the country, helping to generate about 500 thousand hires since its foundation with a very strong team and culture”, said the entrepreneur.
Why does one company buy another?
Companies buy others for a variety of reasons. The company may seek economies of scale, diversification of its product or service portfolio, cost reduction, entry into a new niche or increase in market share. Gupy, for example, as reported by Mariana Dias, which seeks consolidation in the HR Techs sector.
The acquisition of Kenoby, incidentally, was Gupy’s second in just four months. In October 2021, the company acquired Niduu, a corporate education startup based in the state of Maranhão. “With the pandemic, we have seen a great trend among companies in the search to increase both the density of talent and the retraining of their employees, and therefore, with the acquisition of the startup Niduu in 2021, we took another step forward in the chain. of HR and we started to offer the service of training and development of collaborators”, explained Mariana Dias.
As the company said in a note, with these acquisitions, “Gupy advances with its expansion strategy, positioning itself as the leading startup in technological solutions focused on HR, now adding more than 2,300 customers, 36 million users, and towards the mark of 80 thousand vacancies published per month”.
The purchase of Kenoby brings together two major startups in the recruitment sector, expanding Gupy’s portfolio of innovative solutions aimed at recruitment and selection, admission, training and development. “Kenoby has a very talented team, in addition to a culture that has diversity as one of its pillars, as does Gupy”, said Mariana Dias. “We are thrilled with the opportunity to expand our impact through people who pursue the same purpose as us.”
The entrepreneur reinforces that Gupy and Kenoby have already helped more than 1.2 million people to be hired.
More acquisitions?
It is not possible to say that Gupy ended its acquisitions. “We are always looking at trends in the future of work, and we have a big challenge: on the one hand, we need to improve the experience of candidates in the selection processes and, once they are employed, help them develop through continuous learning. or to requalify. On the other hand, we need to continue innovating and offering more solutions to the HRs of companies, in addition to helping them to better use the available technologies, to deliver a better experience for candidates and employees. We are joining forces in this great purpose, which is to improve employability in Brazil”, said Gupy’s CEO and co-founder.
The acquisition of Kenoby was made possible after an investment of R$ 500 million received by Gupy and announced in January of this year. The round was led by SoftBank Latin America and Riverwood, with the participation of Endeavor Catalyst and accompanied by Oria Capital and Maya Capital, who had already invested in the startup. The investment was the largest ever received by an HR technology platform in Latin America and the most robust investment ever recorded by a Brazilian startup founded by women. The round came just over a year after the previous investment, received by Gupy in 2020, and three months after the startup’s first M&A – the acquisition of Niduu.
Founded in 2015 by Mariana Dias, together with Bruna Guimarães, Guilherme Dias and Robson Ventura, Gupy pioneered the use of artificial intelligence applied to recruitment and selection. Two years ago, it began its expansion to offer smart digital solutions for other areas of HR, such as hiring and employee development. With clients in more than 10 countries in Latin America, including large companies such as Ambev, Vivo, GPA and Santander, the startup has grown more than 100% every year.
The Brazilian ecosystem of HR Techs has received investments of US$ 3.4 billion in the last 20 years, according to the Distrito HRTech Report 2021 . In the pandemic, in particular, these startups experienced significant growth, the report indicates, showing that complex scenarios and accelerated changes demand more from human capital. The District document also concludes that the changes accelerated by the current social and economic context are here to stay. “Labor and investment markets have already understood the importance of valuing the human factor of their workforce and the importance of being supported by technology and skilled people in the new context that emerges.”
