A few years ago, Richard Schrems was working as an HR consultant in Riyadh, and at one point he wanted to implement a technology solution to help his clients improve their large teams, but he couldn’t find a local solution.
Schrems told TechCrunch that he needed an employee-centric system, but found that most of the HR software he dealt with was “too complicated” with “too many features and too many functions focused on making life easier for HR managers.” , but with little consideration for ease of use for employees. “This makes adoption difficult,” he said.
His findings weren’t unique to him. A recent survey found growing dissatisfaction among HR technology providers — half of respondents said they plan to change their systems to new technologies that provide a better user experience and consider remote work.
Driving to overcome the gap In 2019, Schrems (CEO) partnered with Kristof Cicna (COO) and Dragan Nikolic (CPO) to launch Palm Hire, a Riyadh-based company whose clients include Hala, TN, Saudi venture capital. Company, Mozen, Jenny, Rabbit Schrems says the HR-tech startup has seen significant growth since its launch, doubling its annual recurring revenue (ARR) every six months.
Following this growth, it plans to double down on Saudi Arabia and expand to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. For the first time to Saudi Arabia and RAED Ventures, with the participation of MENA focused VC firm Wamda Capital.
“We’re on a mission to transform HR technology and the employee experience in the Middle East and North Africa, and most importantly… by creating a mobile-first experience,” Schrems said.
Palm.hr is a mobile-first solution that automates HR management. Image credits: Palm.hr
Philip Specht, Partner, Speedinvest, said in a statement: “As EU-based investors, we’ve seen how companies like Personio and Factorial are creating billion-dollar results in the HR space. With a similar, but localized approach, we believe Palm.hr is poised to become a leading player in the MENA region and the wider Arab world. The company has an outstanding team, a superior value proposition in features, integrations and UX, and a strong customer passion. We are excited to bring back Palm.hr, which reflects our excitement about the growing startup ecosystem in MENA.
Palm.hr automates payroll, tracks leaves and absences, and tracks employee performance, in addition to employee self-service features that simplify internal communication between employees. It also streamlines other HR-related workflow functions for both on-boarding and off-boarding employees, and is configurable across borders, making it easier to match local labor laws and labor regulations in different markets.
For example, in Saudi Arabia, Palm.hr is integrated with government services such as Mudad for digital payment and compliance, by the country’s Ministry of Labour; General Social Security Organization (GOSI) and Muqem Foreign Worker Information Platform.
“With Palm.hr, you can fully process your payroll, because we are integrated with the government’s payroll system, you can make payments correctly; because we are integrated with the government’s visa system, apply for visas and update people’s social insurance because we are integrated with the social insurance system,” said Schrems.
The company is ready to add new features and products, for example, employees can easily access loans, property financing and insurance products.
We want to integrate HR-tech with fintech and insurance so that our employees can do everything like buy or rent equipment, sign up for health or travel insurance. We want to make Palm.hr part of employees’ daily lives, Schrems said.
As it embarks on expansion and further product development, Palm.hr hopes to capture the largest share of the global HR technology market, which is projected to reach $53.3 billion by 2028 at a CAGR of 9.08%.
