Berlin-based Sharpist, a digital coaching provider of personalised learning and development, announced on Tuesday that it has raised $23M (approx €20.29M) in its Series A round of funding. The round was co-led by Endeit Capital and Capnamic.
The round also saw participation from business angels, including Julien Codorniou, former VP of Workplace at Meta, French venture studio Founders Future, and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital unit of Sharpist’s customer Porsche AG. Existing investors Vorwerk Ventures and btov Partners also participated.
Martijn Hamann, co-owner and partner at Endeit Capital, says, “Sharpist connects the next generation workforce with selected and certificated coaches through their data-driven platform. In the $300B+ corporate learning and development market, we see an untapped market for digital coaching. We are excited to support the tech scale-up driving employee empowerment, leadership development, and organisational transformation.”
Capital utilisation
Sharpist claims that the funds will be invested in the company’s product development with a focus on product experience and to expand its services to new markets, including the UK and Ireland. The company also mentioned that it will open a branch in London in the coming months. Besides, Sharpist also plans to double the size of its 100 people team in 2022.
Hendrik Schriefer, CEO and co-founder of Sharpist, says, “The fresh capital allows us to further invest in our industry-defining product experience and gradually position Sharpist as the market leader for digital coaching in Europe. We plan to bring our leading coaching and people development experience to other promising regions, starting with the UK and Ireland.”
Digital learning platform for employee growth
“The digitisation of learning and development offerings can only work with a hybrid platform model – one that is as digital as necessary, yet as human and individual as possible.” With this in mind, Fabian Niedballa and Hendrik Schriefer founded Sharpist in 2018.
Sharpist is a digital coaching provider with the mission to drive the growth of organisations and their people through 1:1 digital coaching and personalised learning journeys. The platform provides personal business coaches from an international network of certified coaches via its mobile and web app, supplemented with personalised learning content.
With learner engagement of more than 90 per cent, the dedication to the customer experience is a crucial element for Sharpist. Since its inception in 2018, Sharpist claims to have grown steadily, organically evolving into a market leader in digital coaching.
Currently, the company employs close to 100 people in its Berlin and Munich offices, and has clients including STRABAG, Franke and Otto Group. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Zalando, Metro and BASF also joined as customers.