HR tech unicorn expanding in Park West offices as revenues approach $1bn
Eric Mosley, co-founder and chief executive of HR technology firm WorkHuman, Photo: Adrian Weckler
Workhuman, the Irish HR technology company which achieved unicorn status last year with a valuation of $1.2bn (€1bn), is planning to double its Irish workforce to 800 people by 2023.
It employs 700 people - 300 in the US and 400 in Dublin. Sales and marketing are in the US, while product development is based here.
CEO and co-founder Eric Mosley told the Sunday Independent: "Workhuman's office space capacity is currently 400, though we have surpassed that while working from home during Covid.
"In the first half of 2021, we'll be expanding to a second building which has four floors and will give us an additional 200 seats. And then we have plans for further expansion in the years to come for another 200 seats. Looking forward, we'll be able to hold at least 800 humans in our Park West office space by 2023."
Workhuman had revenues of $700m in 2019 and saw double digit growth in 2020. It is aiming for turnover of $1bn within a couple of years. "We're on track to be heading in that direction, if it's not 2021, we'll be at that runway early 2022," said Mosley.
Intermediate Capital Group (ICG) bought a 10pc share in Workhuman for $120m in June 2020.
Mosley said it gave early investors, some of whom backed the company in 2000, a chance to exit.
"We decided we would basically test the market and bring in a new investor who could provide all of those angels an exit if they didn't want to wait for a public offering. Some of them earned 100 times their money," he said.
The company is still planning for an initial offering.
"We look at it every year and we have banks on to us every couple of months because we could have done it last year, we could do it this year, we could do it next year. I see over the next two years is most likely, but we're not a company that's losing a lot of money and has to go public to raise money to fund our growth, which is a very common story in the tech world."
Mosley has huge ambitions for the company. "I think Workhuman has a shot at being a real iconic company in the world."
Set up in 1999, it works with companies in the US and Europe.
"Because we invest 95pc of our sales and marketing in budgets in the US, we really did not build our profile in Ireland even though we would probably be one of the most successful Irish technology companies and have all of our development in Dublin."