Introduction 

2020 was the year of HR’s total Digital Transformation. The pandemic forced every organisation to digitize overnight and put employees at the centre of all decision making. Definitions of work and productivity evolved. Work from home, and remote working became the new normal. And it’s here to stay. 73% of teams will have a majority of remote workers by 2028.

While prioritising safety and well being, there is one glaring challenge that companies are being forced to deal with. It is the lack of human touch, lack of access to critical information and the feeling of being left out that employees are experiencing. An issue that’s costing  companies $110B annually!

Access to employee Tacit Knowledge is the game changer here. Tacit or Tribal knowledge is employee wisdom, best practises, observations, hacks and know-how which is stored in the brains and diaries of employees. These are the conversations around water coolers that spark new ideas, solve problems in an instant, and give employees a feeling of being involved. If managed and diffused effectively, this can help enhance employee productivity by 35%. 

Co-founders Ketaki, Omkar and Vihang experienced this problem early on in their jobs, where in spite of being in leading companies, information was siloed, which visibly impacted employee productivity and morale. They realised the need for a solution where knowledge is seamlessly available, and collaborative learning experiences can be built. 

They toyed with the idea with a pilot in 2018, and even though they got limited success, it encouraged them to come together and build this vision of a product. The need only got aggravated in 2020, as Work From Home became a norm for more people around them. 

Finally, with more research, market study and deep understanding of employee needs, they came up with BHyve. Inspired from “Hive Intelligence” of bees, BHyve enables employees to document and diffuse their tacit knowledge and engage in peer learning within their workplaces. BHyve today, is a web and mobile application that uses Artificial Intelligence to build collaborative learning bridges and ensure employees are engaged, productive and happy! 

Ketaki is in charge of Product Development, having 5 years of experience in product marketing and strategy. Omkar is in charge of Business Development and Fundraising having 6 years of experience in enterprise innovation, organisation psychology and startups. Vihang, who considers coding as his passion, looks after Technology Development and has 4 years of experience from top companies in Silicon Valley. 

Market Opportunity

Covid 19 made the idea of Remote Working, from a concept to a ground reality. Overnight companies had to mobilise employees to be able to work effectively, communicate seamlessly and deliver success, in spite of not being physically together. 

Sustaining employee engagement and productivity has become the top concern of business leaders. However, this presents a tremendous opportunity for employee workforce engagement platforms, as informal learning and knowledge sharing is more effective and engaging that traditional learning routes. 

The Learning Experience Market is in its early adopter stage and is growing by leaps and bounds. Peer Learning as a method is very well suited in the future of work.

Currently, the Corporate Learning Market is $50 B with a CAGR of 15%. Within that,  learning experience platforms are currently valued over $ 500 M with 200% growth rate. By 2023, over 70% of the organisations globally will shift to a remote learning and engagement platform like BHyve. 

BHyve is the first Workforce Engagement Platform to enter the Indian market; a tough market for global competitors to crack.

100X Thesis

BHyve provides learning insights, analytics and sociograms to increase employee engagement, reduce knowledge management costs and foster a positive work environment. The features include creating personalised skill profiles, learning from recommended peers and content, a knowledge chatbot to document wisdom and peer recognition and rewards. 

The pricing starts at $1 per employee per month; but follows a slab-based pricing for organisations with larger workforce. It has a competitive advantage of being the first in the Indian market. It’s proprietary machine learning algorithms go beyond standard mapping to take employee development plans, learning goals and clusters to measure employee compatibility. Its Buzzbox offers just-in-time problem solving, to cut repetition of work, and time lost in searching for information. 

We believe that BHyve is the right product to fill the gap of remote workforce learning and engagement requirements and could become a leader in global SaaS offering from India. They have a vibrant team with complementary skills. We validated it from a few HR heads & leaders in the industry who found it to be something that motivates and energizes the workforce by fostering a culture of learning. It enables social sharing between peers and managers to quickly disperse knowledge within the organization. Their strong sales pipeline indicates their deep understanding of the market. Their technology is highly integrable, and easily moulds into the HR, communication and process platforms of organisations. 

Conclusion

With combined experience and expertise in organisational psychology, product management and technology, we are confident that they create a perfect recipe for an HR Tech Company to succeed! 

Their commitment and enthusiasm will definitely make the workplace more approachable, interactive and efficient for everyone! With their promising product, customer pipeline, and the right timing, 100X.VC believes this is a space whose time has come!