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Staffbase, the employee experience platform, raises $23M to help fight worker shortage

  • Investors: Insight Partners , e.ventures, Capnamic Ventures, and Kizoo Technology Capital
  • Mobile first employee communication and experience platform with more than 300 enterprise customers worldwide
  • Listed by Gartner as one of the leaders for employee communication applications

New York, July 10, 2019. At the end of March 2019, the US economy had 7.4 million unfilled jobs, but only 6.2 million people were looking for work. This marks the 13th straight month that the number of job openings was higher than the number of job seekers, requiring businesses to compete harder than ever to keep and attract workers.  Now, one of the startups that helps employers improve and measure the employee experience of their workforce is announcing a round of funding to help fuel its own rapid growth. Staffbase, the mobile first employee communication and experience platform that creates a single place to go for employees to access information and work-related services , has raised $23 million in new funding.

The investment is led by Insight Partners, the backer of successful businesses including Twitter and Shopify. Existing investors e.ventures, Capnamic Ventures, and Kizoo Technology Capital also participated in the new funding round. Staffbase has now raised a total of $35 million since it was founded in 2014 and was recently listed by Gartner as one of the leaders for employee communication applications

The mobile first approach enables its customers to reach their distributed workforce, including the more than 70% of workers that do not regularly work in the office. More than 300 enterprise customers already use the Staffbase platform, including Adidas, DHL, Brinks, Siemens, VodafoneZiggo and MAN.

Staffbase Employee Communications App Mobile Screen

Tiffany Elle, Senior Global Communications Manager at Versum Materials said: “Staffbase goes well beyond a communication platform and brings together so many of the resources we need to put in front of our employees—from Communications and Employee Health Management to HR and Finance. When we used email as our main communication tool, an average of only 20% of employees even opened them. Now, 70% of our employees actively engage with the app on a weekly basis.”

“Generation Y, labor shortage, and the constant need for change are the biggest drivers we see behind organizations feeling pressure to become a people-first workplace,” says Dr. Martin Böhringer, Staffbase CEO and co-founder. “Staffbase is the front door for great employee experiences. We learned that great stories shared throughout the company in order to build a unified identity and purpose are at the heart of today’s employee experience. That’s why the core of Staffbase is a set of tools for mobile-first employee communications, intranet capabilities, and employee engagement. This is completed with an employee experience engine enabling highly individualized employee journeys based on deep integration into existing processes and systems.”

Teddie Wardi, Managing Director at Insight Partners and member of the Staffbase Board said: “Staffbase creates a simple and flexible mobile first front end layer that can be designed around the employee journey. They discovered that employee communication plays a crucial role for a people-first workplace and belongs at the heart of the employee experience. We were particularly impressed with the high customer satisfaction and usage rates that Staffbase achieves with its customers. We look forward to working with Staffbase to scale their product and continue to address this unsolved problem.”

Founded in Chemnitz, Germany, today more than 200 employees operate across 7 locations with its two headquarters being its original European base and New York. The latter office was opened in 2016 and serves today as the sales and professional services hub for the fast growing U.S. customer base. The investment will be used to further expand the product portfolio and drive expansion in core markets of Europe and the U.S.

Staffbase Headquarter Chemnitz
Photo: Staffbase headquarters in Chemnitz, photographer: Dirk Hanus

Staffbase Employee Communications-Platform Analytics Dashboard

You can read the full background story about Staffbase’s growth on the blog.

About Staffbase

Staffbase is the world’s first communication-centered employee experience platform. It enables employers to securely reach their people —whether they’re in an office, on the factory floor, or out on the road and creates a front door and single place to go for employees to access information and services around their job. staffbase.com

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a leading global venture capital and private equity firm investing in high-growth technology and software companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 1995, Insight currently has over $20 billion of assets under management and has cumulatively invested in more than 300 companies worldwide. Our mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to foster long-term success. Across our people and our portfolio, we encourage a culture around a core belief: growth equals opportunity. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit www.insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners

About e.ventures

Founded in 1998, e.ventures is a leading venture capital fund powered by a global network of experienced investors and ambitious entrepreneurs. Headquartered in San Francisco and Berlin, with emerging market partners in Brazil, China, and Japan, the firm invests out of dedicated funds in five geographies and combines a global investment strategy and philosophy with a local presence and insights. Focused at the intersection of consumer internet and software, e.ventures partners with daring founders to disrupt global markets and build category-creating companies across early and growth stages. The e.ventures portfolio comprises various disruptive industry leaders such as Angie’s List (NASDAQ: ANGI), App Annie, Blinkist, Farfetch (NYSE: FTCH), The RealReal (NASDAQ: REAL), and Sonos. www.eventures.vc

About Capnamic Ventures

Capnamic Ventures is one of Europe’s leading early-stage venture capital firms, with offices in Berlin and Cologne. The VC invests most of its funds in tech startups in the German-speaking region. Capnamic also joins forces with international co-investors. All portfolio companies are supported through Capnamic’s global network of investors and industry partners. The vast expertise of the Capnamic team includes more than 70 investments, a high turnover of successful trade sales and IPOs, as well as a strong entrepreneurial track record within the investment team. The general partners are Jörg Binnenbrücker (@bibrue), Olaf Jacobi (@olafjacobi), and Christian Siegele. www.capnamic.com

About Kizoo Technology Capital

Kizoo helps young startup teams grow. Kizoo provides mentoring, seed and early-stage financing for high growth tech companies with a growing focus on rejuvenation biotech. Being part of the German Internet right from the beginning, founding, funding and developing several major internet companies, has been an incredible journey for the Kizoo team still excited to support and mentor some of the country’s most promising startups. Current investments include Babbel, mambu, and shyftplan. www.kizoo.com

Contact

Staffbase Inc.
Leigh Nofi
U.S. PR and Events Manager
251 W 30th St
New York, NY 10001
E-Mail: leigh@staffbase.com

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