Humu: Improving Employee Growth and Engagement
Helping employees and managers become more engaged, productive, and stick around longer
Traditionally, companies have relied on conventional strategies such as offsite meetings, workshops, surveys, and manager rollouts to improve employee engagement and development. However, organizational changes can be vague, making employees feel like strategic discussions are simply “empty talks” with no tangible effects. As a result, nearly 53% of workers are unengaged, resulting in considerable turnover — with a record 4.5 million workers quitting in November 2021.
Alumni Ventures portfolio company Humu addresses these HR pain points through its new behavioral action management software that helps companies manage complex organizational and behavioral challenges through straightforward, actionable solutions. The company’s software combines scientific studies, machine learning capabilities, and essential human characteristics. The result: managers and employees are empowered to make positive behavioral change in a targeted, research-backed, and complementary way.
Crafting a Solution
Effective organizational improvement and employee management have long been pain points for many companies. While current solutions offer some benefits, they often fail at a critical job: driving changes in action. Humu addresses this pain point by creating actionable nudges that reward positive behavioral changes and encourage employees to take steps that align with a company’s key strategies.
Humu currently has six enterprise solutions for the following use cases:
- Diversity & Inclusion
- Manager Effectiveness
- Employee Wellbeing
- Adaptive Culture and Retention
- Organizational Agility
- Remote and Hybrid Teamwork
In addition, Humu recently launched a premium solution that offers diagnostic surveys, a customized nudge engine, plus manager assessment and development plans. Numerous customers have adopted these products across 108 countries and 22 languages, including Roche, Virgin Atlantic, Vodafone, Expedia Group, and Ecolab.
What We Liked About Humu
Established and Experienced Team: During his 10 years as Head of People at Google, Laszlo Bock oversaw a company culture that received over 150 top employer awards. Along with Bock as CEO, the rest of Humu’s founding team includes multiple Google alums with leadership experience in tech and people analytics and a deep understanding of management solutions.
Strong Investor Syndicate: Humu is backed by established VCs, including Index Ventures, IVP, and Homebrew. Over the past 26 years, new lead investor TCV has invested in over 200 companies, 70 of which have gone public. TCV’s investments include Airbnb, Facebook, GitLab, Klarna, Linkedin, Netflix, Peloton, Spotify, ByteDance, and Expedia.
Enormous Market Opportunity: Humu is tackling a significant pain point in the global workforce management software market, which is expected to reach $9.9 billion by 2026. With limited companies addressing this issue, Humu is well-positioned to tap into this substantial market opportunity.
How We Are Involved
Blue Ivy Ventures (for the Yale community), Castor Ventures (for the MIT community), and The Yard Ventures (for the Harvard community) invested in Humu’s $60 million Series C led by TCV.
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