Irish tech firm Workhuman now valued at $2.1bn, according to Morgan Stanley

Irish tech firm Workhuman is now valued at $2.1bn (€1.92bn) and recorded revenue last year of $1,133bn (€1.04bn), according to legal documents filed by the company in a High Court case.

The firm, which is jointly headquartered in Dublin and Framingham, Massachusetts, also has over 320 customers and more than six million employee users worldwide, the documents say.

The $2.1bn valuation, calculated by Morgan Stanley, is almost twice its previously-stated valuation of $1.2bn in 2020.

Workhuman is a software firm that provides employee benefits systems to its customers.

The court case involves a claim by Workhuman’s founder and CEO, Irishman Eric Mosley, that certain investors have engaged in a campaign of interference and obstruction to prevent a major and “transformative” acquisition deal.

Mr Mosley has claimed a conspiracy to damage Workhuman was effected through a variety of unlawful means.

These included a scheme of misrepresentation and intimidation, to force Workhuman to accede to a proposal which would have placed the company under an undue financial and operational burden, he claimed.

These included a scheme of misrepresentation and intimidation, to force Workhuman to accede to a proposal which would have placed the company under an undue financial and operational burden, he claimed.

A seventh individual, Stephen Welch, of Rodimus Operations, Park Road, London, is also being sued although Workhuman says there is no allegation of wrongdoing against him. It is claimed Mr Welch is a “professional director” who was invalidly appointed to Workhuman.

Between September and March last, Barry Maloney, chairperson and director of Workhuman, conducted extensive discussions with the main shareholder of a company Workhuman was looking to acquire. For commercial sensitivity reasons, that company is not named, he said.

Mr Mosley said the acquisition was proposed as an all-equity deal and which, if executed, would have significantly enhanced the scale and growth opportunities of both companies.

Last March, he said, the defendants “opportunistically sought to block the acquisition at the eleventh hour in an attempt to procure substantial benefits for ICG and its affiliates, to which they had no entitlement.”

As a result of a breakdown in the relationship between Workhuman and ICG, Workhuman decided it was appropriate that ICG’s influence, through its direct and indirect shareholdings, “should be addressed”, he said.

In response to steps taken by Workhuman, the defendants have “orchestrated and continue to operate an unlawful campaign to obstruct, block, frustrate and intimidate the company, and others, including the company’s board of directors, in an attempt to continue to apply pressure and exercise leverage” over Workhuman, he said.

Reporting On:www.independent.ie