Southampton: Benefex expands HQ following PE investment

Benefex, the people behind the award-winning employee experience platform, OneHub, today announces the major expansion of its headquarters in Southampton. The announcement comes following the company’s investment from Bain Capital Private Equity last year, and substantial sales growth.

Having won over 50 awards for its global employee benefits platform, reward and recognition technology, and internal communications software, Benefex is set to take OneHub even further, creating fully immersive, consumer-grade experiences for all its users.

The expanded space will house product engineering teams with a state-of-the-art innovation lab, with the goal of creating a fluid work environment for optimum collaboration. Geared to support the aggressive ambitions of the global software business, the announcement sees the current floorspace doubled in size to house 50 new jobs, with a further 50 roles being added over the next 12 months in the region.

The expansion follows continued growth in the platform and customer base, having grown SaaS revenue over 10-fold since the launch of the first module in 2011.

Benefex founder and CEO Matt Macri-Waller explained: “Our primary objective as a tech business is to innovate, and our product roadmap over the next 18 months is incredibly exciting. Today’s announcement is significant in that we have achieved a key milestone with our ongoing global development plan for the platform.

“The phenomenal success can be attributed to the fact that organisations are still struggling to engage their people. In amongst the transformational disruption that is taking place across HR, our customers want to deliver exceptional, personalised experiences to their employees. We want to enable any organisation to build employee experiences which have meaning and purpose, designing them to maximise the outcome for both sides. Using OneHub, our customers are designing great employee experiences which drive engagement. We are delighted to finally announce the news of our new innovation lab. It has taken considerable planning to ensure the successful fit-out of the new space continues to support the wealth of local talent that enables us to achieve our ambition.”

Kathryn Kendall, chief people officer, said: “This is such an exciting time for Benefex, and this expansion is testament to how the business has grown. Finding the right location was key for us, and when we found a site within our existing building, it was an obvious choice. This is a fantastic way to ensure we continue to maintain and develop not only our market-leading product, but our renowned culture, and remain a truly people-centric organisation.”

Benefex attracts top talent from the local region – including taking on a number of graduates from nearby universities – the wider UK, and around the world. The recent recruitment drive follows the significant growth of Benefex’s customer base over the past 24 months, boasting a portfolio of FTSE 100 companies and household names such as Bank of America, Deliveroo, BT, Centrica, E.ON, Boots and Salesforce.

As part of the recruitment drive, Benefex will be hosting information days and workshops led by senior members of the team, who will be able to provide insight into the world-renowned product, industry leading culture, and of course a tour of their new space.

Macri-Waller said of the hard work and passion of his 250 employees: “Every person in our team has made a real difference to how employees across the globe experience work, and will continue doing so. We are an ambitious, visionary company with our sights set firmly on the future; as we continually look for innovative new ways to shape tomorrow’s workplace through progressive technology, the horizon is looking bright for Benefex, our people and our customers.”