• Saudi Arabia-based HR tech platform palm.hr, has closed a $5 million pre-Series A round co-led by Speedinvest and RAED Ventures, with participation from Wamda Capital.
• Founded in 2019 by Richard Schrems, Christoph Czichna and Dragan Nikolic, Palm.hr aims to deliver a streamlined and intuitive work experience for teams of all sizes in the Mena region. It handles everything from onboarding, time and vacation tracking, payroll and offboarding, all fully compliant with local standards and regulations.
• palm.hr will invest the new funding in scaling up its product offering, and accelerating its regional expansion. 

Press release:

palm.hr, a Saudi Arabia-headquartered HR tech platform has announced the completion of a $5 million Pre-Series A round co-led by Speedinvest and RAED Ventures. With more than €1 billion AuM, Speedinvest is one of Europe’s most active early-stage investors and this marks its entry into Saudi Arabia. This round also saw participation from MENA-focused VC firm  Wamda Capital.  Launched in 2019, palm.hr was founded by Richard Schrems, Christoph Czichna and Dragan Nikolic.  

The emergence of new technologies and a remote-first global workforce is changing the way we work, with the HR tech market predicted to grow to $53.3 Billion by 2028 at an estimated 9.08% CAGR. However, even in modern businesses, HR professionals are still not equipped to manage the complexities of an ever-changing work environment creating limitations for businesses, particularly SMEs, as they seek to elevate their employer brands. 

As one of the first foreign-founded start-ups based in Saudi Arabia,  palm.hr was built to support the ambitions of Saudi’s Vision 2030, empowering businesses with technology supporting efforts to attract, retain and develop employees. With this investment, palm.hr will expand to Egypt and UAE while doubling down on its presence in Saudi Arabia. 

With 55% of the population in MENA under the age of 35, young workers increasingly seek digital-powered employment experiences.  Thousands of employees across diverse industries in Saudi Arabia already use palm.hr, including Hala, Thamanya, Saudi Venture Capital, Al Rajhi Investment, Jeeny, and many more.  

“The MENA region is transforming at an incredible pace and businesses recognise the need to be empowered by technology and create meaningful workplace experiences. That is why we built palm.hr, to equip HR professionals with the tools they need to succeed. With the backing of our investors, we are excited to kick off our next stage of growth and play a role in contributing to the future of the region’s economy,” said  Richard Schrems, CEO & Co-founder, palm.hr.  

The company’s platform is designed to be highly configurable meeting local labour laws and employment regulations in different markets across the region. A single platform for workforce data and management, palm.hr also includes features for employee engagement, payroll, insurance, documentation and more. For businesses in the region with global operations, palm.hr has also built a multi-currency feature to support international payment requirements. 

As part of its strategic plans, the company will invest extensively in scaling up its product offering, while also hiring to support customer acquisition efforts to support its regional expansion.  

“As EU-based investors, we have seen how companies such as Personio and Factorial are creating billion-dollar outcomes in the HR space. With a similar, but localised approach, we believe that Palm HR is poised to become the leading player in the MENA region and the wider Arab world. The company has an outstanding team, a superior value proposition in terms of features, integrations and UX, and strong customer love. We are thrilled to back Palm HR, reflecting also our excitement about the wider start-up ecosystem in MENA.“ said Philip Specht, Partner, Speedinvest.

A fully cloud-based service, with mobile-first functionality, palm.hr comprehensively addresses the needs of large and small businesses, enabling the automation of  HR processes and driving employee engagement with co-workers to unlock their full potential.

Combining cutting-edge innovation, best-in-class customer service, and high customisation, palm.hr also streamlines employee data management, tracks leaves and absences, processes payroll and benefits, monitors staff performance, facilitates internal communications via employee self-service features, and much more.  

“As the world’s fastest-growing major economy, Saudi Arabia’s businesses recognise the benefits of embedding innovative technology within their operations to unlock performance, speed and scale. We are proud to back palm.hr, which is a Saudi-first success story creating impact across borders, and playing a transformative role in the future of work,” said Tala Alasmari, Founding Partner, Raed Ventures.  

In Saudi Arabia, palm.hr also features integrations with government services such as Mudad for digital payroll and compliance mandated by the Ministry of Labor in KSA; The General Organization for Social Insurance (GOSI), and Muqeem, the foreign employees' data platform, in addition to providing advisory services to clients as required. 

Adopting industry-leading security best practices, the storage of employee data also meets guidelines set by local regulations. palm.hr is available for users on desktops, with mobile applications available for both Android and iOS users.