CX Automation Startup Seekify Makes Profit, But Pivots To HRtech

SUMMARY

Delhi-NCR and Singapore-based Seekify was launched last year with a business model based on automation of customer experience for other companies

In its first year of operations, Seekify has managed to turn a slim profit of INR 0.53 Cr. After tax deduction, the profit stands at INR 0.4 Cr

Seekify’s total income for FY20 was INR 4.52 Cr, of which, INR 4.11 Cr was derived from the sale of software support and backend services

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In an age of shortened attention spans, where customers have a plethora of options for every imaginable product or service just clicks away, an app’s UI/UX aspect could be the make-or-break deal. This is where Singapore-based Seekify came in. The startup was launched last year with a business model based on automation of customer experience (CX) for its client companies.

“We easily integrate into a business’ CX software to aggregate all the data that drives its customer experience. We give actionable insights from this data with the help of our AI (artificial intelligence) and ML (machine learning) engine,” Seekify cofounder Arihant Jain told Inc42 then. Interestingly, the company now seems to have pivoted its business to an HRtech platform. More on that later.

In its first year of operations, Seekify has managed to turn a slim profit of INR 0.53 Cr. Deduct tax from it and the profit comes down to INR 0.4 Cr.

According to the company’s filings with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) accessed by Inc42, Seekify’s total income for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2020 (FY20), was INR 4.52 Cr, of which, INR 4.11 Cr was derived from the sale of software support and backend services, while the remaining amount of INR 0.41 Cr was derived from software development services and design support.

The company’s total expenses stood at INR 3.98 Cr, translating into a before-tax profit of INR 0.53 Cr. Of the total expenditure, employee benefits expense was INR 2.47 Cr; finance costs was INR 0.0055 Cr; depreciation and amortisation expense was INR 0.014 Cr; and, other expenses, which include the company’s expenditure on rent, travel, fuel, power, advertising and legal services, stood at INR 0.95 Cr.

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Last year, Seekify’s founders Arihant Jain and Ajeet Singh Kushwaha had spoken at length about being inspired by Hollywood movie ‘Moneyball’ for their venture Seekify.

“Moneyball was right — you need wins, and for the wins you need runs. For runs, you need people who can get you runs. Sports and business are similar — you don’t need top performers; you need the right set of people moving all the little indicators that come together to drive results,” Jain had said.

The duo had explained that Seekify would bring together multiple customer interaction points to a common platform to help a client company make sense of its data and use it accordingly.

Seeking A New Avatar

However, Seekify’s customer experience automation offering finds no mention today in its social media marketing collateral. Instead, the company seems to have transitioned into an HRtech platform. Seekify’s website has a new look and reads, “An Intelligent Platform To Solve For Employability”.

The website says that Seekify aims to help companies find job-ready employees, also claiming to help youth launch their careers. Inc42 questioned Seekify about its new business but didn’t receive a reply.

Seekify won’t be without competition in the HRtech sector. Several Indian startups such as Leena AI, BetterPlace, Talview, Zimyo and TeamLease, among others, aim to make the process of hiring employees and managing Human Resources (HR) workflow easier.

It is worth mentioning that startups in this sector can be differentiated, based on the kind of services they offer.

Leena AI is a conversational AI-driven chatbot for HR functions; BetterPlace helps companies find reliable and trained blue-collar employees, Talview helps companies screen candidates effectively, Zimyo offers payroll solutions to small and medium businesses (SMBs) and startups; and, TeamLease is a listing platform for blue-collar and grey-collar jobs.

According to Market Reports On India, the human capital management market in the country is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.65%, from INR 44.11 Bn in 2019 to INR 72.59 Bn in 2025. The market’s growth will be backed by a developing Cloud market and increased adoption of artificial intelligence (AI), analytics, Internet of Things (IoT) and Big Data.