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Indonesian cloud-based human resources management startup Talenta announced earlier today it raised a bridge funding round of an undisclosed amount. The round was led by Fenox Venture Capital and participated in by existing investor East Ventures. Talenta says the funding will be used to ramp up hiring, bolster sales, and increase marketing efforts.
Since inception, the startup has managed to garner several tech clients in Southeast Asia, including some well-known firms like Go-Jek, GrabTaxi, TopasTV, FlowerAdvisor, Qraved, MicroAd, Kudo, ShopDeca, and more. “It has been a rollercoaster ride for the past six months for Talenta but we finally managed to get a product-market fit,” says founder Joshua Kevin. “I believe that the trend is with us. SaaS is going to be the new standard”
Last September, Kevin told that the company’s original concept was to provide varied services for local startups including public relations, community outreach, and events organization. But soon after, following a seed investment from Grace Tahir and East Ventures, Talenta moved its core focus toward human resource services only. It launched in beta the following February.
“It’s been exciting to see Talenta’s progress this year. They’re hitting a billion-dollar industry with full force by offering a tool to help tackle one of the biggest verticals most Indonesian businesses struggle with today,” says Anis Uzzaman, partner at Fenox.
Following the funding round, Talenta plans to expand its monetization method from subscriptions only to include transaction-based revenue. Kevin did not reveal exactly what transactions Talenta will monetize, or what the profit margins could look like, but he did say Talenta will likely work with Jakarta fintech players like CekAja, HaloMoney, and Cermati to help its users apply for products like loans and credit cards.
“It was a natural movement for us as we grow from product to platform,” explains Kevin. “The subscription-based model has limitations in and of itself while [the] transactional [model] has huge potential.” With more than 1,500 employees on Talenta, the startup is also pushing to partner up with large companies instead of focusing on SMEs only. In the past, Kevin cited Talenta’s focus on small and medium-sized businesses as the company’s core offering.
Talenta has also launched its software with a new design. It has added more features, including an employee self service option for leave, overtime, and reimbursement requests. Now that Talenta is gunning for larger enterprises, it will likely start to see more direct competition from the likes of international players like Oracle, SAP, DataOn, and SunFish HR.
