March 22, 2013

PeopleMatter Acquires Atlanta Tech Firm

Charleston Regional Business Journal

PeopleMatter acquired an Atlanta-based tech firm that provides employment assessments and job-fit reports, the company announced Wednesday.

The Atlanta company, PeopleClues, will become a division of PeopleMatter that reports through a senior vice president to Nate DaPore, PeopleMatter's CEO.

"The acquisition of PeopleClues underscores our commitment to change the way the hourly workforce works and make it better," DaPore said in a news release. "This adds a best-in-class assessment provider to PeopleMatter's growing portfolio of human resource management solutions. Acquiring the company strengthens the alignment of our technologies so we can better serve mutual and future clients."

Executives founded PeopleClues in 2004, and in 2012, the company became a partner with PeopleMatter so the two could integrate assessments of the service industry.

"When we started PeopleClues, we set out to positively impact today's workforce by creating cutting-edge behavioral assessments," said Julie Moreland, senior vice president of the PeopleClues division. "Being recently awarded certification by the British Psychological Society provides additional validation for our assessments with an international 'seal of approval.' Joining PeopleMatter accelerates our vision and gives us access to the technologies, expertise and resources we need to scale and innovate together."

In early March, PeopleMatter announced a new $19 million investment in the company by Scale Venture Partners. The company has now raised more than $47 million, with the $19 million representing a new era for the company, DaPore said.

"This is really a growth equity round for us. We're beyond the startup phase, and we're now moving into really the high-growth phase of the business," DaPore said earlier this month. "We have a wonderful product portfolio that we continue to get tremendous feedback from the marketplace, and we've got a fantastic market opportunity we're going after right now."

Specifically, DaPore said the company will use the latest round of financing to accelerate the company's growth, including scaling sales and marketing, expand PeopleMatter's product portfolio and acquire other companies.

Last year, Morgenthaler invested $14 million in PeopleMatter, which at the time doubled the amount of money raised by the company, and was the first time a major Silicon Valley venture capital firm invested heavily in a Lowcountry tech company.