Staffbase Raises $115M to Grow Employee Communications Platform
Employee communications software platform Staffbase secured a $115 million Series E financing round, the company announced on March 15.
This latest investment, led by New York City-based equity firm General Atlantic, pegs the company's valuation at $1.1 billion and follows a $145 million Series D funding round in March 2021.
Staffbase, headquartered in Chemnitz, Germany and with offices in London and New York City, plans to use the new funds to grow internationally and advance its market position in the internal communications space, according to a press release statement.
"Whether employees are frontline or work behind a desk, the last two years have shown that clear and authentic communication that reaches all employees across an organization has become mission critical," said Martin Böhringer, Staffbase co-founder and CEO, in the statement.
Investment in Global Growth and Integration
Founded in 2014, Staffbase provides companies with a suite of internal communications tools, including apps, email newsletters and intranets. The company reports that 2,000 businesses and 13 million employees use its products. Large clients include Adidas, BHP, Hitachi, Ikea, McKesson, Suncor and Volvo.
With the new funds, the company plans to invest in expanding its platform and completing its integration with Microsoft 365. For investors' part, they saw an opportunity for continued growth as demand for employee communications products and software picks up in response to the rise of remote and distributed work.
"As the world continues to adapt to new modalities of working, and as enterprise workforces become increasingly international, connectivity and communication will become more valuable than ever before," said General Atlantic operating partner Achim Berg in a press statement.
Related Article: Why You Shouldn't Communicate With Remote, Onsite and Hybrid Teams as One Group
Learning Opportunities
An Increasingly Complex Market
The workplace changes caused by the COVID-19 pandemic had a dramatic effect on the employee communications market, as companies invested in cloud technologies and communications tools to knit together a distributed and remote workforce.
According to statistics from market analyst IDC, the global market for unified communications and collaboration grew 29% in 2020 and reached a value of $47.2 billion. IDC projected the market will be worth nearly $50 billion by 2023.
The past year has also been an active one for consolidation in the employee communications market, with Staffbase making two moves of interest. In March 2021, Staffbase merged with Bananatag to strengthen its position in email communications. Then, in November 2021, the company acquired Valo Solutions, a provider of intranets and workplace solutions for Microsoft 365, SharePoint and Microsoft Teams.
Former competitors Dynamic Signal and SocialChorus merged in June 2021 to form Firstup. The consolidation trend is likely to continue this year, wrote Reworked contributor Jeff Corbin, as employee experience remains a big corporate priority and vendor companies continue to invest in developing workplace communications products in response to the workplace changes of the last two years.
Staffbase also announced it plans to invest $54 million to establish a skills academy to train and develop internal communications professionals. The company already produces an Internal Communications Masterclass series.
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About the Author
Mike Prokopeak is editor in chief at Reworked, the premier publication covering the r/evolution of work, where he leads content development focused on the transformation of the workplace.
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