Kelly Services And Temp Holdings Launch $10 Mn VC Fund For HR Startups

Gurgaon-based recruitment firm Kelly Services has launched a corporate venture capital fund in association with its joint venture partner for Asia Pacific, Temp Holdings. The fund which is called ‘Temp Innovation,’ bids on startups in the $6 Bn (INR 40,000 Cr) Indian human resource market.

The fund will focus on startups engaged in recruitment services, HR information systems, learning management, assessments, employee analytics and engagement, payroll and more

It aims to invest in HR startups which will make people-related interfaces and transactions more productive. There are plans to invest $298K (INR 2 Cr) in each startup with a fund corpus of $10 Mn (INR 67 Cr).

“Globally the staffing industry is a USD 400 billion industry out of which USD 180 billion is contributed by the US domestic market alone. The Indian HR market is about USD 10 billion plus including all technology platforms and growing rapidly. We are looking out for startups harnessing complex algorithms, predictive analytics, patented platforms and digital technologies that can enhance HR and recruitment productivity,” Kamal Karanth, managing director, Kelly Services & Kelly OCG India.

Earlier, Temp Holdings had launched this fund earlier this year in Japan and is now accessible to all global markets. The firm is based in Singapore and owns 51% share of the expanded joint venture.

In November 2011, another fund focussed on HR startups named as  ‘HR Fund’  was launched by VarunTalwar, serial entrepreneur and Founder of the Withya Group and PankajBansal, Co-Founder and CEO of PeopleStrong. It has a fund corpus of $9 Mn (INR 60 Cr) and has to date invested in companies such as People Strong, People matters, and Piqube.  Recently, it also participated in Series A funding of Bangalore-based KNOLSKAPE, a software company that focusses on management training, assessment and research.

HR startup funding has always been at the bottom of the pyramid of VCs in India. Only from the last two years, has this segment started gaining momentum in the eyes of VCs. The startups which raised funds include Belong.co, GrownOut, Hiree, AsaanJobs, and MyRefers.com.