Korean HR Tech Startup D.WHALE Secures Series A Funding for ‘CLAP’ Platform
Reading Time: 2 minutesKorean startup D.WHALE, which develops and operates the SaaS-based HR management platform ‘CLAP,’ has secured Series A funding. The investment was led by Korea Investment Partners, with participation from existing investors such as We Ventures and 500 Global. To date, the total accumulated investment amount is approximately 8 billion KRW (around $6.7 million USD). D.WHALE is an HR tech startup dedicated to developing and operating ‘CLAP,’ an HR Management (HRM) solution that simplifies continuous performance management.
The SaaS-based continuous performance management platform CLAP supports faster growth for managers and employees by providing features based on clear goal management (OKR, KPI), including employee evaluations, continuous peer feedback (CLAP AI), 1:1 meetings, goal management, and the calibration process. Notably, each HR function is modular, allowing for customized solutions tailored to clients’ needs. Additionally, various OPEN APIs enable seamless integration with existing data used by client companies.
By leveraging its modular design, CLAP reduces costs and implementation time to 20% and one-tenth, respectively, compared to traditional SI-constructed HR platforms. Currently, it is used by more than 1,000 companies, including mid-sized and large enterprises such as Ananti, Air Premia, Bon IF, SL, and AIMMO. Companies that have adopted CLAP have seen a reduction in the time required for performance evaluations by an average of 80% and an increase in employee retention by over 30%, significantly improving job satisfaction.
With the growth of CLAP, a modular HR SaaS solution developed by HR and product experts from Samsung Electronics and LINE, D.WHALE secured investment from Spring Camp, a Naver-affiliated venture capital firm, within a year of its founding. Ten months after the initial investment, D.WHALE successfully attracted pre-Series A funding from 500 Global, We Ventures, Spring Camp, and Kingsley Ventures. Since then, the company has consistently grown, achieving over 300% annual growth and recording around 500% revenue growth last year.
Goo Ja-wook, CEO of D.WHALE, stated, “With this investment, we plan to develop more diverse performance management modules to respond quickly to customer needs and enhance our AI modules to reduce 90% of the resources required for corporate performance management. For faster growth, we are recruiting server developers and product managers for HR platform design.”
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