HRTech Sense raises $50M funding led by Softbank Vision Fund 2

San Fransico-headquartered HR tech startup Sense today announced it has raised $50 million in a Series D funding round led by Softbank Vision Fund II at a valuation of roughly around $500 million, reportedly.

Prior to this round, Sense had raised $16 million in its Series C round in June 2021, led by Accel, Avataar Venture Partners, and GV. The startup so far has raised around $90 million in funding from investors like Chiratae Ventures, Accel, IDG Capital, others.

The announcement comes at a time when the startup is witnessing strong growth in its business. Over the past year, Sense claims to have doubled its revenue, increased our deal size by 70%, and added industry leaders to its customer base of more than 600 organizations including Kelly Services, Adecco, Kindred Healthcare, Sears, and Dell.

Founded in 2015 by serial entrepreneurs Alex Rosen, Anil Dharni, Pankaj Jindal, and Ram Gudavalli, Sense is the leading AI-powered talent engagement and communication platform for recruiting that enables talent acquisition teams to personalize their interactions with talent at every stage of the employment cycle. 

With this round of funding, Sense will increase its focus on market expansion and product development. Apart from this, The San Franciso-based firm will also ramp up its go-to-market strategy targeting the sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, logistics, and retail.

According to the startup, in today's hyper-competitive hiring market where blue and grey-collar workers are leaving jobs in record numbers, companies cannot accomplish their hiring goals without targeted investment in automation and AI. This tailwind has helped Sense gain traction across more than 600 customers, it said.

“Sense’s founding mission to equip companies to engage with best-fit talent both quickly and effectively is more important than ever. Our work with hundreds of companies in the past year alone has enabled them to build great teams and compete for talent amid the pandemic,” Anil Dharni, CEO of Sense, said in a statement.

The startup claimed that its net retention rate surpassed 130% and NPS 60, doubling the industry’s average and comparable to market giants Adobe and Salesforce. 

Further, It also has plans to continue to expand internationally, including the opening of a Sense office in Bengaluru, India in Q1 2022. 

Speaking on the investment, Munish Varma, Managing Partner, SoftBank Investment Advisers, said:

"We have tracked Sense's growth and product innovation amid one of the most transformative years in the talent landscape. Powered by AI, the Sense platform aims to help companies manage the entire talent lifecycle which is of utmost importance in today’s competitive environment.” 

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