Switzerland-based employee communication platform developer Beekeeper has secured $13m in series A funding from investors including postal service Swiss Post, consumer electronics manufacturer Samsung and employee services provider Edenred.
Atomico and Keen Venture Partners co-led the round, which included all Beekeeper’s existing backers. Samsung and Edenred invested through their Samsung Next and Edenred Capital Partners units respectively.
Beekeeper has created a mobile-focused platform that helps employers securely communicate with employees without a full-time desk-based position or corporate email address.
Christina Bechhold Russ, a principal at Samsung Next Ventures, said: “Non-desk based workers are one of the most overlooked markets for digital services, yet they are estimated to have a mobile penetration rate of 84% and this only continues to grow.
“Beekeeper enables employers with distributed workforces – from manufacturing companies to retailers – to seamlessly connect everyone in the organisation and transform the way information is disseminated and shared.
“A strategic investment for Next, this is a great opportunity to support a fast-growing scale-up leveraging mobile devices to define the future of work.”
The funding follows the $8m Beekeeper raised from Swisscom Ventures, the corporate venturing arm of telecommunications firm Swisscom, Keen Venture Partners, Fyrfly Venture Partners, Polytech Ecosystem Ventures, B-to-V Partners, Investiere and various angel investors in June 2017.
Fyrfly Venture Partners had led a $5m seed round for the company in April 2016 that included B-to-V Partners, Polytech Ecosystem Ventures and angel investors including Ariel Luedi and Niklas Ostberg.