HRlink Human Resources Innovation

HRlink is a developer of a personnel electronic document management system. The HRlink service helps to significantly reduce routine operations in personnel workflow, save on printing, delivery and storage of documents.

Performance indicators

2023: Russian EDO service HRlink doubles annual revenue

In 2023, HRlink raised 850 million rubles, which is more than double the one-year-old figure of 400 million rubles. Such data were published by the developer of the personnel electronic document management (EDO) service on December 21, 2023.

From the materials of HRlink it also follows that by the end of 2023 the number of employees of the company reached 270 employees, and the number of users of the HRlink platform tripled over the year and amounted to 1.2 million people. The product has more than 5 thousand users among legal entities. By the end of 2023, over 7.3 million documents were issued through the service, including about 1 million applications.

HRlink raised 850 million rubles

HRlink also cites data according to which by the end of 2023 the number of users of platforms for remote registration of HR documents has already exceeded 4 million people, and the demand for digital personnel documents has increased threefold over the year.

Partner and Development Director of HRlink Dmitry Makhlin drew attention to the environmental effect of the transition to electronic document management. According to him, in 2023, HRlink users saved 1.3 thousand trees. In addition, the platform saved 600 thousand hours for employees of personnel departments.

There are more and more people in the labor market for whom interaction in the digital field is much more familiar than in outdated paper formats. Therefore, in the future, personnel EDO will become an integral part of corporate processes and an indicator of the high level of HR culture in business, - said Dmitry Makhlin, whose words are quoted by the press service of HRlink.

The company recalled that in September 2023, HRlink offered users the opportunity to sign documents only with a personal UKEP with a machine-readable power of attorney (MCD).

2022: Revenue growth up to 400 million rubles

HRlink, the developer of the platform of the same name for managing personnel electronic document management (KEDO), earned four times more in 2022 than a year earlier. The company's revenue increased to 400 million rubles. HRlink's workforce has grown to more than 150. Users have interacted with the platform more than 12 million times. The company announced this on January 18, 2023.

The personnel EDO service was launched in 2020 amid a pandemic, growing remote employment and the development of legislation in the field of digitalization of documents in HR.

More than 700 companies from different business segments and digital representatives of their industries have become HRlink customers. In 2022, the number of users of the service more than quadrupled.

Among the growth factors of the company, Dmitry Makhlin, partner and development director of HRlink, calls the improvement of legislation in the field of personnel EDO, an increase in the share of remote employees in Russian companies and a high level of interest from HR specialists.

A year ago, at the first meetings with HR, we had to explain what a personnel EDO is and prove its value. There were few open cases and real practices on the market. Now we often skip this part altogether - customers come to us for a specific product and know what results to expect from it. Awareness is already quite high, and the level of penetration of personnel EDO in Russian business is constantly growing. And this is just the beginning: the market will continuously increase in the next 5 years and will reach a volume of about 43 billion rubles, - said Dmitry Makhlin.

The company's successes were noticed by major players in the Russian HR tech market. In 2022 HeadHunter invested , 100 million rubles to the HRlink service in order to expand the HR ecosystem of hh.ru services for working with personnel.

HRlink predicts that by the end of 2023, the personnel EDO segment in Russia will increase 10 times. From 2025, the market will expect explosive growth - personnel EDO will become mandatory.

The personnel EDO market in Russia was finally formed in 2022. First, it was stimulated by the transition of many companies to a remote mode of operation due to the relocation of employees. Secondly, representatives of most industries switched to paperless HR and received the first results from the digitalization of processes. Now, relying on their experience, the introduction of personnel EDO will be engaged in "followers." I expect an increase in the number of projects by at least 6-7 times - 2023 will be explosive for this segment of the IT market, - said Dmitry Makhlin.

In connection with the growth of the market, the company predicts an increase in HRlink revenue several times in 2023.

HRlink Partner Program

2023: Scaling the Partner Program

The developer of the HRlink electronic personnel document management system on July 20, 2023 announced the scaling of the partner program. Now all companies and private consultants who want to attract new clients and expand their business thanks to the personnel EDO platform can become its participants. Within the framework of the HRlink program, it trains employees and helps to form a sales plan. In the first year of joint work, partners earn an average of 100 thousand to 2.25 million rubles.

More than 40 private consultants and companies participate in the HRlink partner program. Participants establish professional connections, exchange samoy̆ aktualnoy̆ informatsiyey̆ about the paperless HR market, including initiatives of the Ministry of Labor, and receive dopolnitelnyy̆ income. Under the terms of the program, the partner receives an annual reward for attracting each commercial client - up to 30% from the sale of the license. The cost of an annual license for the company of 1 thousand people is about 1 million rubles. In addition, customers can connect additional HR and IT services related to HRlink.

There are four partner status, which are determined by the number of deals concluded: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. All participants have access to training programs and actively interact with the HRlink team.

The Partner Manager will help to communicate and coordinate processes, and the Sales Manager will provide the necessary support for the transaction. This will allow you to move quickly through the program and improve conditions. Depending on the status of the partner, an individual sales plan is formed for him. In addition, starting with silver status, the partner gets access to personal advice from HRlink experts, marketing and PR activities of the IT company.

We try to form a multi-level partner network, within which we build long-term cooperation with each partner, taking into account his interests. That is why they recently introduced a transaction protection system: in the event of disputes, the transaction remains with the company that established communications with the client first. In addition, this is a mutually beneficial partnership: we not only receive, but also give. We are often approached by customers who need to configure certain integrations - this is not our profile, so we invite them to contact our proven partners. This is a win-win situation in which our partners help us with the introduction of paperless document management and at the same time can expand their client base, "said Dmitry Makhlin, partner and development director of HRlink.

History

2024

HeadHunter increases share in HRlink service to 60%

On October 3, 2024, it became known that HeadHunter received control over the developer of HRlink personnel electronic document management systems. The amount of the transaction as of the specified date was not officially disclosed, but, according to market participants, it can be up to 1.5 billion rubles.

According to Forbes, as part of the agreement, the HeadHunter platform has increased its share in the HRlink service, which allows businesses to sign documents with employees in electronic form, from 9.09% to 60%. Thus, the transaction provides for the acquisition of an additional more than 50% in the HRlink structure. Under the terms of the contract, co-founders of the project Alexander Monosov, Anna Korchminskaya and Dmitry Kislitsyn, who previously owned 18.19%, 9.07% and 4.55% of the business, respectively, left the startup.

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Freepik

It is noted that HRlink will maintain autonomy within the HeadHunter ecosystem: the company will continue to develop its own strategy, including the release of new HR products. It is assumed that the acquisition of the asset will help HeadHunter to increase its presence in one of the fastest growing segments of the HRTech market - in the field of personnel electronic document management. In particular, HeadHunter expects to expand its offer in the field of integrated HR automation. According to the forecasts of the company itself, this direction will grow by 30-40% per year until 2029.

The head M&A of the HeadHunter company, Jan Stermanov, called the purchase a logical stage in the development of the HR ecosystem, which "the recruiting service is building around the platform for job search and employees." As of October 2024, it includes services for the selection Human Resources Management Talantix and and Skillaz management of the Dreamjob employer brand, as well as training and evaluation of employees. Edstein^[1]

Connecting a Second Certification Center

HRlink connected a second certification center to issue and use electronic signatures. The ability to redistribute the load within the platform will make it more catastrophic, as well as reduce dependence on possible delays in partner systems or massive failures. The company announced this on September 18, 2024.

Against the background of an increase in the number of users of personnel EDO in Russia, the burden on the infrastructure of partner companies providing services for the issuance of electronic certificates for signing documents has significantly increased. Thus, more than 1 million UNEPs have already been released on the HRlink platform in 2024 with the support of the certification center.

Increasing the load inevitably leads to large risks of system malfunctions. In order to eliminate downtime in the work of human resources departments, HRlink made the platform even more reliable by adding the ability to work with a second certification center.

Due to internal routing, HRlink will be able to redistribute the load and practically eliminate the possibility of service failures, giving customers a choice: each will independently determine the supplier of electronic signatures.

We strive to ensure that the certification centers with which we work take the issue of reliability as seriously as we and our partners. Support for several EP suppliers at once makes work with the HRlink service even more stable and practically excludes situations when the user cannot complete the hiring of an employee or sign a personnel document due to a temporary failure in the work of the CA, - commented Danila Morogin, executive director of HRlink.

The release of the UEP from the second CT, as well as further work with an electronic signature, will take place automatically, without the need for separate confirmation. There will be no changes to the user path for working with personnel documents on the platform. UNEP is issued through the second TC if necessary, while certificates issued earlier will also continue to operate without restrictions.

The personnel EDO market by the end of 2024 will grow at least twice, which will entail an increase in the load on the entire infrastructure providing work with electronic documents. HRlink has taken care of strengthening the reliability of the service - for the personnel EDO platform, continuous access to the ability to sign a document or issue an electronic signature 24 to 7 are critically important, "added Dmitry Makhlin, partner and development director of HRlink.

2023: Agreement with the RCC for the purpose of transferring St. Petersburg enterprises to digital documents

The manufacturer of the HRlink personnel EDO platform and the Regional Competence Center for Labor Productivity have entered into a cooperation agreement. Organizations plan to transfer 196 enterprises of St. Petersburg involved in the national project "Labor Productivity" to digital documents in HR - this is more than 46 thousand employees. HRlink announced this on March 20, 2023.

Cooperation between HRlink and the RCC implies the exchange of experience in the field of digitalization of personnel document management and joint events. These measures are aimed at implementing the national project "Labor Productivity" and ensuring production culture at enterprises in St. Petersburg.

Organizations plan to jointly train employees and top managers of St. Petersburg enterprises to work with HR electronic document management (KEDO) tools. In addition, they will encourage the introduction of paperless HR in the city's companies. Immediately after the signing of the agreement, HRlink and the RCC of St. Petersburg will start a pilot project for the transition to digital documents at one of the enterprises in the northern capital, a participant in the national project.

The introduction of CED will definitely affect the increase in labor productivity: employees will take time off, get acquainted with orders and sign more than 200 types of personnel documents "in one click," which means they will not spend their working time on this, in which they can produce products and create value for the enterprise. HR departments and HR services optimize the routine - which means that they will be able to devote more time to personnel security, personnel logistics, planning training and advanced training of personnel, corporate culture, and the personnel strategy of the enterprise. All this directly affects the stability, efficiency and productivity of any enterprise, "said Irina Golubtsova, head of the Regional Center for Competencies in Labor Productivity in St. Petersburg.

We believe that by 2025, about 70% of Russian companies will use personnel EDO services. In the same time frame, the transition to digital documents in HR is likely to become mandatory for some industries - especially for strategic organizations. Thanks to our cooperation with the RCC, we will be able to gently and painlessly prepare the business in St. Petersburg for the upcoming changes, - said Dmitry Makhlin, partner and development director of HRlink.

2022

9th place in the ranking "The largest providers of solutions in the field of HR-tech in Russia"

HRlink took 9th place in the TAdviser rating, prepared on the basis of revenue from the implementation of projects in the field of HR-tech (Human Resources Technologies) in Russia at the end of 2022 and published in December 2023. More details here.

Receiving 100 million rubles of investments from HeadHunter

The HeadHunter group of companies invested in the developer of the HRlink electronic document management platform and completed the acquisition of a minority stake in July 2022. This was announced on July 18, 2022 to TAdviser by representatives of HeadHunter. According to the idea of ​ ​ the group of companies, this will expand the HR ecosystem of hh.ru services for working with personnel by adding a KEDO direction and close the need for companies to automate personnel processes. In turn, the investment attracted from HeadHunter in the amount of 100 million rubles will help HRlink scale up in the Russian market.

HRlink is a human resources electronic document management (EDC) platform that entered the market in 2020. The solution allows companies to switch to paperless HR by signing all legally permitted documents with employees and self-employed remotely from a computer or mobile device.

As of July 2022, the HRlink service is used by more than 500 large and medium-sized companies, which employ over 1.5 million people. For 2 years of work in the market, the startup team grew to 100 people, and revenue for 2021 reached 100 million rubles. The business growth rate allows the company to forecast at least a threefold increase in revenue in 2022.

"For 2 years, we have grown from a startup consisting of several people to a prominent player in the HR-Tech market with a mature solution in the field of KEDO," said Dmitry Makhlin, partner and director of HRlink development. - A partnership with HeadHunter will allow us to strengthen our market position and offer our service to numerous users of the platform hh.ru. We are moving to an active phase of scaling, so it was important for us to attract a strong strategic partner. HeadHunter is perfect for this role. "

HeadHunter Group has been developing a full-cycle HR ecosystem for several years (from recruitment (,) Talantix Skillaz to employer brand management services (Dreamjob)), the key element of which is hh.ru an online platform for finding jobs and employees.

The integration of HRlink will enable employers to use a single tool to formalize relationships with candidates and employees throughout their career cycle in companies. For example, the HRlink hiring module helps automate the process of applying for candidates - make a job offer, upload documents for employment, familiarize yourself with local regulations and sign an employment contract. Thus, the recruiting process begins in the Talantix service (cloud CRM from hh.ru), and the registration and employment of the selected specialist will seamlessly go to HRlink.

In addition, hh.ru got the opportunity to enter the promising segment of KEDO. The volume of the personnel electronic document management market, according to HRlink, amounted to 350 million rubles in 2021. In November 2021, the 377-FZ "On Amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation" was adopted, allowing companies to keep almost all personnel documents in electronic form. The demand for KEDO systems has grown sharply, and the market volume by the end of 2022 may increase 10 times.

"The decision to invest in HRlink is a logical step in our strategy to create an ecosystem of corporate HR-Tech services around the platform hh.ru. We see a steady trend towards the automation of HR processes and are pleased to offer customers a solution in the field of personnel administration. Our goal is to give the company an impetus for further product development and scaling, while maintaining its entrepreneurial culture and flexibility, "commented Dmitry Sergienkov, Deputy General Director of HeadHunter.

Launch of a partner program for the development of the paperless personnel workflow market in Russia

The developer of the HRlink electronic personnel document management system on February 28, 2022 announced the launch of a partner program. It will allow domestic companies and private specialists in the field of HR to jointly develop the market for paperless personnel workflow in Russia. Thanks to the partner program, HRlink also plans to increase sales by 30%.

The HRlink.Partners program is designed for opinion leaders, private HR and IT consultants, as well as owners of thematic communities on social networks interested in paperless HR workflow. Program participants can recommend the HRlink service, using this as an additional source of income.

Partners receive 10-30% of the cost of licenses purchased by each commercial customer each year. The cost of an annual license for a company of 1 thousand people on average is 1 million rubles. The partner bonus is affected by the number of users connected to the HRlink platform and the status of the program participant. For February 2022, there are four partner statuses: bronze, silver, gold and platinum. They are updated automatically, the transition to each new level is determined by the number of transactions concluded with the participation of the partner.

In addition, the program provides for training partners in the legislation in the field of personnel electronic document management and a special methodology for selling KEDO services developed by HRlink. So, in 2021, two federal laws were adopted that determine the prospects for the development of the personnel electronic document management market. These are No. 407-FZ, which makes changes to the regulation of remote work, and No. 377-FZ, which allows companies to draw up personnel documents in electronic form. The HRlink.Partners program details the nuances and subtleties of the updated legislation.

We see a rapid increase in demand for IT products that simplify and accelerate the work of HR specialists. And personnel electronic document management is one of the most promising and demanded technologies in this area: for example, among HRlink clients there are already more than 200 companies, many of which are included in the list of the largest employers in Russia. Therefore, we strive to create such a partner network that will allow participants to receive additional income, exchange the most up-to-date information about paperless HR, learn and jointly move the developing KEDO market forward, "said Dmitry Makhlin, HRlink Development Director.

2020: Project Launch

As TAdviser found out, with the participation of the chairman of the board of directors of Korus Consulting Alexander Semenov and the general director of BFTAlexander Monosov, a new project was launched in 2020 - the HRlink electronic personnel document management service. It is designed to switch to a completely paperless document flow with employees and allows you to form, remotely sign and store electronic personnel documents (HRM).

Alexander Semenov told TAdviser that investments in the project amounted to about 20 million rubles.

The development of the service is carried out by the company "Innovations in Human Resources Management." It was formed at the end of May 2020. Semenov and Monosov own half of this company in equal shares.

According to the database of legal entities Contour Focus"," the share of 40% "Innovations in Human Resources Management" is owned by the Dmitry Arzhevsky general director and co-owner of the St. Petersburg company-based supplier of engineering systems for objects constructions"." Aventin Engineering He is also the general director and co-owner of "Tree solutions" - a project that the company itself calls "the first Russia Internet in the platform for the engineering construction market."

HRlink sees companies with more than 1,000 employees as its main target audience

The remaining 10% of Innovation in Human Resources Management belongs to Anna Korchminskaya, managing partner, member of the board of directors of Korus Consulting, director of the logistics department.

How HRlink works. Human resources department forms a document in its HR program or MS Office, then sends the document for signing to the HRlink service directly in the browser or through the integration solution. HRlink generates a unique page for each document.

Then the human resources department specialist sends a link to sign the document to an employee or manager via SMS, in the messenger or by email. The employee signs a document of an enhanced unqualified EP or simple EP tied to an account in the ESIA on a single portal of public services. And the head signs the document with an enhanced qualified EP. The signed document remains in the HRlink archive and can be uploaded to the personnel program or to the EDMS.

The price of the service starts at 30 thousand rubles per month, indicated on the HRlink website. For this amount, the client is provided with software in which the human resources department can exchange legally significant documents with employees in electronic form, an EP is issued. The set of functions includes signing EP documents, an employee's personal account, a register and archive of personnel documents, a notification center for employees. The cost also includes the introduction and support of the first line, the company told TAdviser.

The maximum price is limited by the number of employees at the employer and the set of additional services, says Alexander Monosov.

Speaking about how HRlink differs from other EDO services existing on the market, Monosov noted that HRlink very clearly specializes in a specific vertical direction - HR digitalization, in contrast to EDO in general.

According to Alexander Semenov, HRlink sees companies with more than 1,000 employees as its main target audience, and companies with more than 5,000 employees are showing maximum interest. The service also has customers with a staff of more than 20 thousand people.

Semenov says the project shows a high rate of development: "In November alone, we connected about 50 organizations." According to the pessimistic forecast, the company expects to break even in March 2021.

Screenshot of the main page of the HRlink site

The developers justify the relevance of the new service for the market, among other things, by the fact that at the beginning of 2020 the first changes in legislation in the field of digitalization of personnel affairs came into force - all employers are obliged to transfer electronic information about the work of employees to the Pension Fund. And the next stage on the path of digitalization of personnel document management is planned to translate into electronic format all documents related to work, including those involving the employee's signature.

In April 2020, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a 122-FZ that launched a large-scale experiment on the transition to electronic personnel document management throughout the country. The experiment will last until March 31, 2021. After that, everyone else will also need to switch to electronic personnel document management.

Alexander Monosov gave TAdviser an estimate that at least 70% of employers with more than 1,000 employees will switch to legally significant electronic personnel workflow within 3 years.

2021: 15-fold revenue increase

In 2021, HRlink increased the number of customers by 14 times. The number of employees has grown to 52 people. Revenue rose 15 times.

The active expansion of the HRlink business is primarily associated with a decrease in legislative barriers to the transition of Russian companies to CEDO. In 2020, an experiment by the Ministry of Labor was launched, in which 375 companies, including the largest employers in Russia, transferred personnel workflow to electronic form. The experiment lasted until November 15, 2021, and based on its results, amendments to the Labor Code of the Russian Federation were adopted, allowing almost completely abandoning paper when conducting personnel document management.

The interest of Russian business in electronic personnel workflow is growing: the number of successful cases of switching to KEDO from market pioneers has increased, a regulatory framework, judicial practice, and experience in successfully passing inspections by state supervisory authorities have been formed. If by the end of 2020 about 80% of HRlink customers were from the IT and retail sectors, now production, logistics enterprises, financial companies and the public sector are switching to paperless HR.

The first CEDOs are introduced by medium and large companies with large, geographically distributed teams. Electronic HR workflow allows them to reduce the time for issuing and signing documents by 70-80%, and the cost of document management - by an average of 2-4 times. And for such a business, this is a significant savings. For example, the demand for electronic document management from the pharmaceutical industry is growing, - said Dmitry Makhlin, director of development of the HRlink platform.

In 2021, companies such as Semrush, Lifehacker, Vkusville, Voxys, SberMarket and many others were also introduced into the HRlink platform. HRlink also became a resident of the Skolkovo Foundation and entered the Register of Domestic Software.

In general, the number of HRlink clients increased 14 times, to 140, revenue - 15 times. In this regard, the developer had to significantly expand the staff. The company has increased its production department, formed full-fledged sales and support departments.

We launched HRlink in May 2020. We started with weakly predicted 2-5 customers per month. As of December 2021, we conclude 15-20 new contracts every month. I consider this the main achievement of 2021. The Russian market learns about us on the principle of word of mouth. And this is proof of the convenience of our service and the well-coordinated work of the HRlink team, - said Dmitry Makhlin.

2022: Revenue of 6 million rubles

In 2020, the company's revenue amounted to 6 million rubles.