Beekeeper, a company that supports businesses in their engagement with frontline workforce has secured $50 million in its latest Series C funding round.
Participants in the Series C round include EGSB, Energize, Kreos Capital, Thayer, SwissCanto, Alpana, Keen Ventures, and Verve Capital.
The company which has a Switzerland origin and was founded in 2011 is on a mission to cater to the needs of the projected 80% global workforce operating without a conventional office. These workers fall under industries such as hospitality, manufacturing, logistics, retail and healthcare among others.
Through the Beekeeper platform, customers access tools that support messaging, video, surveys, voice chats, FAQ chatbot, documents, shift scheduling, forms, and workflow automation which enables the on boarding of new hires, among others. In addition to these, the platform also has an aggregate of analytics which supplies metrics for engagement to managers.
Beekeeper is not alone in its current endeavor. Other startups offering similar service included WorkStep, WorkJam, cash-laden Skedulo, and Connecteam which closed a $120 million investment recently. These collection of startups are on a mission to link up with the estimated 80% deskless workforce whose frequency on the internet is rather sporadic in most cases.
Chris Grossmann, the CEO of Beekeper described his company this: “Beekeeper helps companies reach and connect with frontline employees who do not work at a desk, speak dozens of languages, work with their hands, and usually don’t have company email accounts.” Grossmann broke down the process of how the platform’s software helps organizations streamline all that makes up the frontline employee experience. This ranges from the automation of paper based processes, the sharing of shift schedules to the digitization of vital work resources.
Beekeeper has been in the game for more than ten years and during this period, it has partnered with some A class players such as Hilton (Hotel), and Cargill (food company). The 2019 pandemic which changed the face of work also benefited Beekeeper like other remote work oriented businesses. The pandemic literally forced companies to recalibrate the organization of their workforce.
For people like Grossmann, the growing national conversation around frontline workers is as a result of the intensely developing wider awareness about the indispensable roles they play in daily human life.
Over time companies have now realized that the approved standard means of communication such as the word of the mouth, bulletin board, social intranet etc which has serviced for years are now inadequate and ineffective. Grossmann summed it up thus: “Many had to implement new technologies to connect and empower their frontline workers — and they needed to do it fast.”
The Key to retention
The utility of connecting and engaging lies especially in its capacity to effectively sustain employees retention and combat the great resignation which continues to be an issue of great concern for companies. It is also an effective solution for the numerous unfilled jobs waiting f to be filled. Connection and engagement minimizes frustrations, workplace friction and brings answers to the questions and issues raised by frontline workers to make the fulfilled at their job.
Grossmann explained that: “Organizations that rely on frontline labour to make, sell and distribute their products are being forced to address long-standing pain points around pay, working conditions and the employee experience for their frontline teams,” he stressed further that: “Forward-thinking organizations are taking action to address frontline disconnect and high turnover in a holistic way that solves it once and for all.”
Beekeeper already secured $81 million investment in time past. This latest $50 million according to the Zurich based company will be used to fast-track products development and leverage on the growth recorded particularly since the pandemic which is marked by a 100% revenue increase.
As originally reported in (https://techcrunch.com/2022/11/08/beekeeper-which-helps-companies-engage-with-their-deskless-frontline-workforce-raises-50m/)
