Sprout Solutions, a Philippine-based Human Resource and payroll systems startup, has raised $1.6 million in a seed round led by Kickstart Ventures, along with Wavemaker Partners, Beenext, and one private investor.
The company plans to use the proceeds to further expand its artificial intelligence (AI) products for enterprise-level companies.
Co-founded in 2015 by husband and wife Patrick and Alex Gentry, Sprout bootstrapped its way to more than 200 clients, including some of the largest ones in the Philippines.
Kickstart Ventures president Minette Navarette, cited Sprout’s potential in becoming a global HR systems and payroll management firm.
She noted people and payroll management are among the most important business processes, yet they are frequently taken for granted, with companies having to choose between tedious, error-prone, manual computation via spreadsheets, or complicated, non-user-friendly, expensive solutions from big brand names offering solutions developed 20 years ago.
Minette Navarette
“We’re committed to helping the Sprout Solutions team drive growth in the Philippines, and beyond,”
Navarette said, noting as enterprises move into the digital age, HR systems should, as well, create a more accurate, responsive, and efficient experience for companies, HR professionals and employees.
“Kickstart is thrilled to support Sprout Solutions, which offers a smart, painless, and reliable way for companies to manage timekeeping and attendance, payroll, and employee profile management,”
Navarette added.
Sprout CEO Patrick Gentry initially assumed that only smaller to mid-sized firms would need an HR and payroll solution like Sprout, but later on found that even the biggest companies in the country also need their services.
Patrick Gentry
“The legacy Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) products they typically use from abroad do not cater to the nuances of business in the Philippines.
In contrast, we’ve built our products from day one to make it easier for Filipino businesses to do their core HR and payroll,”
he said.
And besides simplifying HR and payroll processes, Gentry said Sprout’s products can bring more business value from the data it collects. One of its two stand-out products Sprout Insight, is a solution that brings artificial intelligence and predictive analytics to the world of human resources.
