Beekeeper raises $8 million Series A financing round

Beekeeper transforms employee communication and engagement with a mobile-first solution designed specifically for service and blue-collar employees who work shifts, don’t sit at desks, and are distant from corporate management – both in mindset and location. The company’s mobile employee communications platform fosters meaningful, two-way communication and collaboration with peers, managers and Human Resources (HR) leaders, including feedback and survey tools, while providing enterprise-grade scalability, security, and analytics.

In the past 12 months, Beekeeper has extended the lead in their core hospitality, retail and manufacturing market with wins at Mandarin Oriental (hospitality), Dollar General (retail) and Seaboard Food (manufacturing). The start-up also made a strong move into transportation with new clients including Heathrow Airport, Gate Group and Dnata. Other notable wins include Wireless Vision (the largest exclusive retailer for a major telecom company), food manufacturer Oberto and a few major hotel franchise groups.

Beekeeper CEO Cristian Grossmann explains: “Over the last year, we’ve grown to more than 50 employees, including building out our customer success teams in both San Francisco and Zurich. We will continue to grow in Europe with our offices in the UK and Germany. Our user base now spans more than 130 countries and integrates non-desk employees who previously fell outside of internal communication processes.”

The financing round was led by Keen Venture Partners, and General Partner Robert Verwaayen has joined the Beekeeper Board of Directors. Beekeeper also welcomed the participation of Fyrfly Venture Partners, Polytech Ecosystem Ventures, and b-to-v Partners. Prominent angels who invested in a personal capacity include Niklas Zennström, Skype co-founder and founding partner at Atomico; Ariel Lüdi, former CEO of hybris and founder at Hammer Team; and Niklas Ostberg, co-founder and CEO Delivery Hero.

The round will be used to fund US and EMEA market expansion for Beekeeper’s employee communication app that connects and empowers entire workforces, including non-desk workers, anytime and anywhere. Beekeeper will continue to invest in customer success and new features to support large global enterprise customers as well as delight smaller family run businesses. “Our vision for Beekeeper is to be the primary platform that non-desk workers use and need in their daily jobs with enterprise integrations into critical operational systems”, says Cristian Grossmann.

The Beekeeper app
For organizations, Beekeeper matches corporate identity and branding, with automated workflows and scheduling to fully support operational strategies and communication. The app features real-time measurement to improve communication efficiency, gain insight and calculate impact, allowing for continuous optimization. Beekeeper’s Employee Communication Hub integrates with over 500 tools and can be extended further with shift management, payroll, intranets or HR systems.

(SK)