Cork workplace communications startup raised $16m in funding

The Irish startup has raised more than $17.5 million in total. Workvivo

An Irish workplace communications startup has raised almost $16 million in Series A funding as the shift to remote working accelerates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Workvivo, based out of Cork, provides companies with an internal communications platform similar to Facebook and, as more companies look for ways to accommodate remote working, it has experienced a huge influx of new investors.

Chief amongst the Series A investors was Tiger Global, an investment company that has previously backed successful ventures like Uber, Airbnb, and LinkedIn, while Eric Yuan, the founder of video conferencing giant Zoom, also notably invested in the Irish company last year.

The company also received funding in a seed round late last year and has now raised more than $17.5 million in total.

Founded by John Goulding and Joe Lennon three years ago, Workvivo allows employees to read or post content on an "activity feed", similar to a Facebook Timeline. The platform similarly allows users to like, share, and comment on posts they come across.

Users can access the platform by web, desktop, or through a mobile app.

The company had users in more than 40 countries by the end of last year and Netgear, Telus International, and Cubic Telecom are some of the more high-profile companies that already use Workvivo's software.

The company has already opened an office in California to facilitate expansion in North America.

Goulding and Lennon expect to hit more than one million users by 2021 and Goulding said in a statement that the latest investment will be used to accelerate international expansion in addition to accelerating product development.

"The move to remote working has been significantly accelerated by recent events. It’s now more important than ever that employees are able to effectively communicate and remain engaged with each other and with the business.

"We have experienced tremendous success to date and this funding will allow us to expand our reach significantly to help organizations across the globe, while also allowing us to continue to invest strongly in ongoing product development."

Cork workplace comms startup raised $16m in funding