Investment round led by SeedPlus to link the employee experience with performance and productivity makes EngageRocket the first such venture-funded startup in Southeast Asia.27,000+ users across 13 countries in Asia Pacific, and more than half a million responses analysed in 8 Asian languages since launch less than 2 years ago.Secured major partnerships with SP Group, Bank Danamon, Mediacorp, Tokopedia, Shopback, and more.

SINGAPORE - Media OutReach - 12 September 2018 - EngageRocket^[2], a Singapore-based startup launched in 2016 that helps companies build better workplaces using people analytics, has raised an additional US$640,000 in a seed round as Asian companies turn to real-time data to improve their employee engagement and performance.^[1]

EngageRocket team

This takes the total amount of funds raised by the company to US$1 million. The round was led by SeedPlus^[3], with Found. Ventures^[4] also participating. Other investors from the previous round include former JobsCentral co-founder Huang Shao-Ning.

People analytics is the science of using quantitative and qualitative data from employees to improve business performance, an area familiar to co-founders Dorothy Yiu and Leong CheeTung as former regional heads at American research and consulting company Gallup.

In the last 12 months, the company has expanded to analysing data from 13 countries in Asia Pacific. This region is seeing the fastest growth in the people analytics market at almost 20% annually, driving a market that is tipped to reach US$1.87 billion by 2025^[5] which was almost non-existent just 10 years ago.

EngageRocket aims to help every leader use data to make better people decisions. Improving trust in their team, for example, or enhancing skills in innovation.

With an 'Employee Engagement Pulse' module, users can now monitor the employee experience in real-time, analysing trends and response to policy and management changes.  Also, with a '360 Performance Feedback module' users can analyse performance across important leadership skills, and correlate them with employee loyalty and engagement.

This allows users to build a live business case for keeping workers happy while developing their skills. EngageRocket plans to deepen its data intelligence capabilities, and also provide a platform for continuous performance management to anchor its analytics in performance improvement.

A recent study showed that for every $1 spent on such analytics, companies received a return of $13.01^[6]. Little wonder that 69% of large companies now report having people analytics functions^[7], up from 10-15% just a few years ago.

"We spend more than half our waking lives at work," Leong, Co-founder and CEO, said. "Asian companies employ 60% of the global labour force today^[8], and will contribute 40% of global GDP by 2030^[9]. We're very excited by our mission to use analytics to improve the lives of so many, and create real economic value."

The 600M "millennial" workers in Asia Pacific^[10] today, all below 35 years old, demand a very different way of working. Google Trends shows a 573% increase in worldwide searches for the term "employee experience" in the past 5 years. Of the top 11 regions driving this trend, 3 are from Asia Pacific.

"I'm most excited about the application of data and technology to solve problems at scale. In Asia, there exist huge gaps in understanding human capital and relevant data to enable people managers and leaders to build better companies," said Tiang Lim Foo, Operating Partner at SeedPlus. "As workplace productivity technology shifts from 'systems of record' to 'systems of engagement'^[11], we're excited to partner with  CheeTung and Dorothy at EngageRocket' to define the future of work in Asia."

"EngageRocket's vision regarding the use of people analytics to make organisational decisions is an important one," commented Grace Sai, Managing Partner at Found. Ventures. "We are happy to be supporting them to bring back people to the core of any company."

About EngageRocket

EngageRocket is a cloud-based software that helps leaders and organisations make better people decisions using real-time data. We automate employee feedback and analytics to deliver management insight that improves employee experience and performance.

EngageRocket has been named one of 20 Hottest Startups in 2018 by the Singapore Business Review, and has been featured in multiple outlets like Forbes, Bloomberg, Channel Newsasia, Tech In Asia, The Straits Times, The Business Times, NewsRadio 93.8, Money FM, Berita Harian, e27, DealStreet Asia, and others.

Founder Profiles

Leong CheeTung

CheeTung is committed to bring the same level of analytics, sophistication, and scientific rigour to managing people as is currently applied to managing finance and customers. He is the CEO of EngageRocket.

Before becoming an entrepreneur, he was Regional Director of Gallup in Southeast Asia. He read Economics at the University of Cambridge, and has an MA in Political Science from Columbia University under the Singapore Armed Forces Overseas Scholarship (SAFOS).

Dorothy Yiu

Dorothy co-founded EngageRocket with the aim to use 'human analytics' to create better workplaces and happier employees, and is passionate about translating clients' needs into applicable software solutions that create meaningful impact for users. At EngageRocket, she is the Chief Operating Officer leading product development, technology, customer success, and design.

Previously, she served as Head of Operations for Gallup (South East Asia) overseeing the execution of large-scale consulting projects for clients in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Australia and Dubai. Dorothy obtained double degrees BBM & BAcc from the Singapore Management University under the Lee Kong Chian Scholarship.

About SeedPlus

SeedPlus (www.seedplus.com) is a Singapore based venture capital firm, looking to invest in and partner with founders building globally disruptive start-ups across Asia, by leading pre-series A rounds. The investment philosophy is focused on operational involvement through a team of seasoned executives from fast-growing tech companies the likes of Google, Yahoo!, Spotify and Evernote. We are supported by Jungle Ventures, and count Cisco, IFC, SGInnovate, Accel Partners, RNT Associates and Eight Roads as investors. Our broad-scoped investment interests include machine learning, SaaS, IOT & connected devices, fintech and marketplaces. Some of our investments include Moglix, Homage, CardUp, Evie.ai and CoveIOT.

About Found. Ventures

Found. (www.found.us) is an innovation-only community that has spent the past 6 years connecting businesses to the right mentorship, funding and access to corporates. With a live community that is 2,500-strong, Found. has even supported over 75 corporates in developing their innovation agendas.

Found. enables its members to grow their businesses and also give back to the community - this is possible due to a trusted ecosystem that they have built by providing access to resources, market visibility and facilitating strategic partnerships for all stakeholders. They are also Google for Entrepreneurs' first Southeast Asian partner.

References

1. ^{^} Media OutReach (www.media-outreach.com)
2. ^{^} EngageRocket (engagerocket.co)
3. ^{^} SeedPlus (www.seedplus.com)
4. ^{^} Found. Ventures (www.found.us)
5. ^{^} to reach US$1.87 billion by 2025 (www.grandviewresearch.com)
6. ^{^} received a return of $13.01 (nucleusresearch.com)
7. ^{^} 69% of large companies now report having people analytics functions (www2.deloitte.com)
8. ^{^} employ 60% of the global labour force today (www.ilo.org)
9. ^{^} contribute 40% of global GDP by 2030 (thediplomat.com)
10. ^{^} 600M "millennial" workers in Asia Pacific (www.scidev.net)
11. ^{^} 'systems of record' to 'systems of engagement' (www.forbes.com)