China’s GaiaWorks raises $44.4m in Series C
China-based GaiaWorks, an HR-focused software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider, has raised RMB300 million ($44.4 million) in a Series C round of funding led by Tiger Global Management.
Other participants include its existing investors Warburg Pincus and Matrix Partners China.
Founded in 2009, GaiaWorks specializes in cloud-based workforce management solutions that help employers schedule shifts, record employees' attendance records, and review job performance using big data analytic tools. It mainly provides services via a mobile app. The company claims to have over 400 corporate clients - with more than 600,000 employees - across China, Japan, South Korea, India, and Southeast Asia. They include General Electric, Volkswagen, China Resources Group, Samsung, Estee Lauder, Nike, and GAP.
China's one billion-strong workforce is the world's largest, while the industries that employ these people are worth trillions of renminbi. Traditionally, companies have relied on internally developed systems for HR management rather than use advanced, technology-driven offerings from third parties.
However, with labor costs rising, the arrival of younger, more tech-savvy employees, and expansion into overseas markets with different work cultures to China, companies are increasingly turning to centralized and standardized systems developed by the likes of GaiaWorks. Other players in the space include Anxinji, which raised a Series B round led by Ant Financial last year.
“After 10 years of development in this field, GaiaWorks has accumulated some of the largest clients in China’s corporate world. We hope the fresh capital can help the company grow its market share and improve clients' workforce efficiency,” said Huanzhong Lei, a partner at Tiger Global.
Matrix first backed GaiaWorks in 2016 and was then joined by Genesis Capital in a RMB50 million Series A round a year later. In 2017, Matrix, Warburg Pincus and Genesis contributed a further RMB300 million.
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