As companies take on an ever more global approach, and encounter new obstacles, MOVE Guides is building out a proposition to take advantage of this and secure its own success.
Growth of any kind is good for an early-stage business, which is operating in a market that has largely developed over the last few years. But for MOVE Guides, the last 12 months has seen the company expand tenfold.
In making it simpler for companies and other institutions to move talent around the world, MOVE Guides now operates in some 150 locations and has offices in London, New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong.
A new fundraising of $8.2 million, backed by renowned software-as-a-service venture capital firm Notion Capital and New Enterprise Associates (NEA) has now given the business enough financial firepower to pursue a next stage of expansion.
GrowthBusiness caught up with founder and CEO Brynne Herbert to find out how progress has been to date and what the business provides to clients such as SurveyMonkey and lululemon.
(1) What does the business do, and how has it evolved since it was founded?
MOVE Guides makes it easy for companies to move their talent around the world. The talent mobility industry involves recruiting new hires from university to a new job, sending a project team across the world, transferring employees to a new location, and much more.
MOVE Guides’ Talent Mobility Cloud is the first service to help companies manage the processes associated with all types of employee mobility and to help employees plan their relocations. We deliver 30 per cent more efficiencies to companies and 99 per cent satisfaction to employees.
MOVE Guides was founded with the vision to make it delightful for employees to move around the world. We continue to put the employee at the heart of the mobility experience with our employee technology and MOVE Advocate support, but have evolved to a full enterprise technology platform that supports HR, recruiting, global mobility and finance teams.
(2) How does the business plug into different technology trends?
The Talent Mobility Cloud brings together the best of cloud technology and process automation into a single platform. Our multi-tenant cloud system allows us to release upgrades and new features to clients at just a fraction of the cost of a traditional software vendor.
Our sophisticated user permissions allow HR teams worldwide to have different access levels and controls, to take into consideration data protection and business requirements while executing talent mobility. Our integrated technology and service solution automates many complex repetitive processes, to enhance experiences for employees and companies.
(3) How have you achieved such rapid growth in the last year?
While 75 per cent of organisations expect to increase their population of mobile employees, just 2 per cent of companies think their mobility function is world class. This has translated to the majority of companies doing transformation projects around their mobility programme and partners.
MOVE Guides is exactly the solution companies are looking for. Our timing and understanding of the market has met the demand from multinational firms – and there’s much more to come.
(4) What obstacles and problems have you had to overcome, and what have you learnt from them?
We are a new company and a new concept in an industry today dominated by traditional incumbents with strong brand recognition. This strong market position is much of what has allowed them to continue within the status quo and not develop new solutions for the new era of talent mobility.
While market and client feedback for MOVE Guides is overwhelmingly positive, it is always a challenge to be a new brand in an established market. We have a wonderful group of clients worldwide today who trust MOVE Guides for their talent mobility program, and look forward to this growing in the future.
(5) Why did you decide now was the right time to raise new funds?
We believe the talent mobility market is at a fundamental tipping point. Nearly every multinational firm will drive revenue growth from outside their home markets in the future. We hear this consistently from C-suites and see it in annual reports. This timing, coupled with our rapid growth and strong client adoption over the last 12 months made it the right time to raise new funds.
(6) How have you gone about building up a consortium of investors?
We are extremely pleased to have NEA and Notion Capital as investors. We selected these funds due to their strong focus on building big, innovative enterprise businesses. We are excited to have this expertise on our board and with us on the journey to define and disrupt a new market for global companies.
(7) What do your angel investors such as Sherry Coutu and Tom Hulme bring to the table?
Both Sherry and Tom have been MOVE Guides angel investors from our first funding round. They have, and continue to, bring us great strategic advice and mentorship. Both are champions for UK entrepreneurship and we look forward to following in their footsteps to build a big business in the UK.
More on Sherry Coutu:
(8) Where would you like the $8.2 million to take you?
The proceeds from the round will be used to accelerate MOVE Guides’ growth. This includes hiring new staff (including our new VP, sales Alex Wood and future leadership hires in global marketing and the Americas), accelerating product development and building partnerships with new clients. We expect to raise a Series B round in 12-18 months once these milestones are hit.
