Peakon, the people analytics company, raises $22m for global expansion, led by Balderton

Peakon's solution is focused on employee engagement and retention. 

The service collects and analyses employee feedback from web and mobile apps, then uses machine learning to understand what motivates employees, what problems they have, and how those problems can be fixed.

Since their launch in early 2016, Peakon has been expanding rapidly, with companies such as Trinity Mirror, Secret Escapes, LHH Penna (part of the Adecco group), World First, Lombard Risk Delivery Hero, BMW, Urban Airship, and Capgemini adopting the platform. Those customers have recognised that people are their most important asset and that people decisions are among the most important decisions a company can make. The founders of Peakon saw that historically, people decisions have been made by opinion (subjective, and often inaccurate) when instead they should be founded on data. 

The market for employee engagement and people analytics is huge — Deloitte estimates it is already a $1bn market. Peakon was founded by a team with an already impressive track record of building some of Europe's most successful technology startups — Kasper Hulthin (Podio - acquired by Citrix), Christian Holm (Podio), Phil Chambers (Gumtree - acquired by eBay, Qype – acquired by Yelp, Podio), and Dan Rogers (Qype, Songkick).  

In December, the team shared on their blog some of their accomplishments over the past year, including being named one of the fastest-growing global SaaS startups of 2017.