You Want Skillz? Seems Like Everyone Does These Days.

Musical accompaniment for this week’s newsletter. Big Work Tech news out of Santa Monica this week with Cornerstone OnDemand’s acquisition of SkyHive, the AI-powered skills intelligence platform that helps employers build skills-based organizations. Terms were not disclosed. 

Hot on the heels of Cornerstone’s launch of a talent intelligence solution called Cornerstone Galaxy, RedThread Research’s Dani Johnson writes that the Skyhive acquisition “hints at Cornerstone's ambition to become the ultimate platform for skills management and workforce planning.” She goes on to say that the move completes Cornerstone’s skills platform puzzle. “While many vendors specialize in two or three skills functionalities,” Johnson writes, “this acquisition may make Cornerstone the most complete skills platform we've seen.”

Skills are certainly top of mind with people leaders today. The excellent new McKinsey report on the race to deploy AI and raise skills in Europe and beyond highlights that business executives are reporting widespread skills shortages that they only expect to worsen (see the graphic below). 

Addressing the skills challenge is complex, requiring talent acquisition, skills development, reskilling, internal mobility, and people analytics to work together seamlessly. The new iCIMS 2024 CHRO report aligns with McKinsey’s findings. It shows that 86% of survey respondents say internal mobility is a top priority for their organizations this year.

From a go-to-market perspective, whether you call it Talent Marketplace, Talent Intelligence, Talent Mobility, skill-based development/hiring, or something else, this a buzzy, convoluted, red-ocean slice of the market. And it’s just getting noisier. Workday got into the action earlier this year with its HiredScore acquisition. Deel’s Zavvy acquisition made some preliminary steps in that direction. And those are probably not the last of the acquisition shoes to drop this year, especially with some really solid brands slugging it out — Fuel50 , EightFold.ai , Gloat , Phenom , and SeekOut (which recently announced a layoff of 30% of its workforce) to name a few. What may end up being big accelerators – or obstacles – will be these companies’ current valuations, burn rate, progress toward cash-flow positivity, and investors’ appetite to stay the course in a growing part of the market. 

What else is going on this week?

Payactiv Seeking Minority Investor

Fortune reports four venture and banking executives said the earned-wage access power brand is exploring the sale of a minority stake in the company. The report also said that Payactiv likely would use those funds to expand its product mix and build a better digital wallet. The digital wallet aspect is interesting because it is a versatile tool that could potentially go beyond paychecks and payments to include rewards, transaction security, identity management, and overall efficiency in business operations. Also noteworthy in the Fortune report: DailyPay, LLC , another earned-age access brand, is eying an IPO in 2025, according to Axios.

Another interesting aspect of earned-wage access is its perception as an hourly worker solution. The potential appeal and impact are much broader. According to a recent report by data and analytics platform PYMNTS, 62% of U.S. consumers in January said they lived paycheck to paycheck, including 48% who earn more than $100,000 annually and 36% of consumers earning more than $200,000 annually. EWA still has a lot of room to grow. 

WATCH: Micro Podcast 49: Dr. Aaron Delgaty

The Starr Conspiracy’s head of research, Aaron Delgaty, PhD , who wrote the book on Employee Experience, talked with Matt Tatum about a powerful form of buyer research that can inform go-to-market strategies, product roadmaps, and other areas of tech company growth. Yep, we’re talking about Card Sorts. WATCH AND LEARN

The Battle for Project Management Software. This Time It’s Personal.

When it comes to solutions like monday.com , Asana , Airtable , Jira Software, and the like, CIOs keep trying to cut costs and consolidate. But some employees just aren't having it. 

Funding and Acquisitions

• Easy Metrics Inc. raises $31 million in growth funding. The Bellevue, Washington, startup offers a labor analytics platform for warehouses and manufacturers to analyze, forecast, and manage cost and performance. Congratulations to CEO Dean Dorcas , CMO Jill Keto , and their team! (FinSMEs)
• VEDA GmbH raises €17 million. The Alsdorf, Germany company offers an HR software and payroll-as-a-service solution for European-based mid-market employers, including recruiting, onboarding, personnel management, talent management, learning & development, payroll, workforce scheduling, and time & security. (FinSMEs)
• OSOME raises $17 million ($18.3 million U.S.) debt round. The Singapore startup serves SMBs with chatbots that run tasks including business registration, company record-keeping, accounting, filing of annual returns, corporate secretary services, and payroll management. (CB Insights)
• Nory raises $16 million Series A. The Dublin startup (formerly known as Skueeze) offers an integrated operating system for the restaurant industry that includes business intelligence, inventory management, workforce coordination, payroll processing, and growth funding. (CB Insights)
• Merit Incentives raises $12 million Series A. The Dubai, United Arab Emirates, startup engages employees and recognizes, motivates, and rewards global teams. It provides gifts, rewards, and engagement strategies using technologies and offers gift registries, gift cards, merchandise, and employee and customer rewards with retailers and service providers. (CB Insights)
• Leya raises $10.5 million seed round. The Stockholm startup offers an AI-based legal assistant that streamlines legal inquiries and workflows, providing accurate answers based on public legal sources and proprietary data. (CB Insights)
• Recall.ai raises $10 million Series A. The San Francisco startup offers a single API that allows access to meeting data from platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams, simplifying building and operating meeting bots and enabling developers to create applications like meeting notetaker bots, sales coaching bots, and daily standup bots. Congratulations to co-founders Amanda Zhu , David Gu , and their team! (CB Insights)
• Native Teams raises $7.82 million seed round. The London startup facilitates international payments, providing local employment contracts, tax management, payroll processing, and creating professional invoices for remote workers, freelancers, and their clients. (CB Insights)
• Wysa gets $3.4 million grant. The Boston company provides artificial intelligence-driven emotional support and wellness services for employee mental health and well-being. The grant comes from the National Institutes for Health. (CB Insights)
• Worknjoy raises $1.46 million seed round. The Japanese startup offers tools for HR management, electronic approval processes, and financial management to simplify and optimize business processes. (CB Insights)
• Shomvob raises $1 million pre-seed round. The Dhaka, Bangladesh startup is a professional networking and job-matching platform. (CB Insights)
• HR-Autopilot raises venture capital. The company, based in Cologne, Germany, connects various HR systems, automates workflows, and eliminates manual tasks to reduce errors. Terms were not disclosed. (CB Insights)
• CloudRock gets private equity investment. The London startup offers advisory, delivery, and optimization services to guide organizations through HR and finance technology-enabled transformations. Terms were not disclosed. (CB Insights)
• PowerToFly acquires upskilling platform Skillcrush. The NYC-based talent management solution for diverse professionals announced the strategic acquisition of the education platform, which provides technical upskilling for underrepresented professionals. Terms were not disclosed. (Press Release)
• Centivo acquires Eden Health. The NYC-based healthcare company for employers announced the acquisition of the employer-centered virtual-first medical provider. Terms were not disclosed. (FinSMEs)
• Randstad Digital acquires Torc. Based in Dieman, the Netherlands, the digital talent solutions provider, has acquired the Boston-based AI-powered talent marketplace platform. Terms were not disclosed. (FinSMEs)
• SD Worx acquires TribePerk. The European HR and payroll solutions provider’s acquisition of the payroll startup consolidates its position in the Polish SMB market. (Press Release) 
• Accenture completes Udacity acquisition. (FinSMEs)

LinkedIn Economic Graph: Global Hiring Slows, AI Work Accelerates

In the latest State of the Labor Market Report, the LinkedIn Hiring Rate shows the pace of hiring continues to slow across the globe but at a less rapid clip in several major economies, including the U.S., Canada, UK, Mexico, Brazil, India, and more recently Australia. Also, the “use of generative AI has doubled in the last six months, with 75% of global knowledge workers using it.”

Industry News

• hireEZ partners with leading job boards, introduces Sourcing Hub features. (Press Release)
• Udemy announces Rob Rosenthal as new Chief Revenue Officer. (LinkedIn)
• GoodHabitz announces Annabelle Vultee as new CEO. (UNLEASH)
• Borderless AI appoints former Chime HR leader Beth Steinberg to its board of advisors. (LinkedIn)
• Nayya partners with Aflac to enhance the claims experience for customers. (Press Release)
• JLL's 2024 Global Occupancy Planning Benchmarking Report found that 87% of organizations worldwide are operating with a hybrid model. (HRD)
• Joonko files for Chapter 11,  plans to distribute the remaining $4.25 million to investors. (CalCaList)
• Worker training platform Guild lays off 300 employees (25% of workforce). (Denver Post)
• Open AI strikes $250 million deal with News Corp. (Wall Street Journal)
• BenefitsPRO Brokers Survey: Voluntary benefits are hot right now. (BenefitsPRO)
• Pontera announces partnership with Stifel Financial. (Wealth Management)
• Litmos launches AI Assistant to improve training outcomes. (Training Industry)
• Mindtickle announces revenue enablement and AI capabilities to elevate sales behavior. (Training Industry)
• CoachHub - The digital coaching platform announces AI coaching companion. (Training Industry)
• Schoox announces AI-driven skills mapping. (Training Industry)
• BCG expects AI integration to drive a revenue surge. (The Consulting Report)
• Restaurant365 showcases new products at the National Restaurant Association show, including employee training and task management. (Press Release)
• Dayforce announces new Flex Work solution. (Press Release)

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Around The Shop

Stuff we’re finding interesting right now at The Starr Conspiracy.

• Lunch with Marc Benioff is a hell of a lot cheaper than lunch with Warren Buffett. That said, “cheap” is a relative concept. (SF Standard)
• Slacklash: Users of Salesforce’s team communication solution are not happy after finding out the company is using customer data to train AI. (Techworm)
• How companies play a role in advocating for working parents (via Parentaly ). (LinkedIn)
• Is “Love Is Blind” a toxic workplace? (The New Yorker)

That’s it for this week!

Everybody love everybody,

Steve

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About The Starr Conspiracy

The Starr Conspiracy is an Experience Agency for enterprise technology companies that are shaping the way people work. Our passion is creating defining moments to transform your business across the Customer Experience spectrum — Brand, Marketing, Sales, Product, and Customer Success.