Cake HR is an all-in-one human resources management software product that allows employers to keep track of their employees' holidays, business trips, expenses and more. Started in 2012 it is updated weekly and has already turned Cake HR into a major gloabl player in an extremely competitive sector, being ranked 6th-best HR software in the world in a 2016 survey conducted by Gartner in the U.S.
“In principle it is simple: an e-management application so employees can book their time off and everyone can see it on a shared calendar. Now we're morphing into a full HR platform that offers everything from recuitment to offboarding and everything in between,” says Kaspars.
Yet as Kaspars explains as the fish soup arrives, Cake HR started as a side project: “I used to have a digital agency and we built Cake HR in-house for our own team, so everyone could schedule their vacation time. We saw it as a side product, but it started growing. The revenues kept on climbing, we expanded the features and improved things. And then I realised that the agency wasn't going to be forever and I wanted a business that would continue to grow. At a certain point the revenues of Cake HR were such it just made sense to fully focus on it.”
Getting Norberts on board in 2013 to lead what the company calls its “militant marketing department” with social media “ growth hacking” was an important step, and Norberts says he thought hard before agreeing: “There were lots of small things – not one big reason. It was a gut feeling. I wasn't thinking 'Oh, this will be lots of money' or 'I'm in love with Kaspars'!” Norberts lets out another gale of laughter. Somewhere inside the restaurant a glass shatters.
The company is based in London, helping it attract a large portfolio of UK-based clients, but has its main office in Riga and a sales development representative in Tallinn. Exports form the overwhelming bulk of its business, though it has started picking up local clients too over the last eighteen months to supplement the international client list.
Both men are proud that they continue to develop the company not with government handouts or the intervention of angel investors but using their own capital.
Export Markets
Albania, Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic , Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Malaysia, Malta, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of South Africa, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, USA, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom
Norberts Erts
norberts@cake.hr