EX Firm Simpplr Names First Chief Data Scientist

Employee experience (EX) platform Simpplr has appointed former Brandwatch exec Aykut Firat as its first Chief Data Scientist.

Silicon Valley-based Simpplr, which also has offices in the UK, Canada and India, helps clients deliver real-time insights and personalized experiences that engage employees, and retain and attract talent. Last week the firm announced it had raised $70m in a Series D round of funding, which will be invested in company growth and platform expansion.

Firat (pictured) joins from social media listening and content marketing analytics firm Brandwatch (acquired by Cision in 2021), where he served as Chief Data Scientist. Before this he worked for social media intelligence firm Crimson Hexagon (which merged with Brandwatch in 2018), as Chief Data Scientist and VP of Research and Analytics. Earlier he served as Chief Scientist at concept testing and forecasting software specialist Affinnova (acquired by Nielsen in 2014).

Commenting on the appointment, CEO Dhiraj Sharma said: 'Aykut's role will allow us to dive deeper into how Simpplr customers can leverage advanced technologies - such as artificial intelligence, sentiment analysis and emotion analysis - to understand their employee base better and act on that information in real time. It is rare to find a data leader with the deep knowledge Aykut has and even rarer to find one who can apply that knowledge with such passion for making employee experience professionals more effective at their jobs'.

Web site: www.simpplr.com .