New York and London-based YOOBIC is a platform that gives the deskless workforce all the tools they need to be productive, and in the palm of their hands. It helps companies to empower their employees through digitally optimised communication, training, and process management.
YOOBIC raises Series C round
In a recent development, the company has raised $50M (approx €42.4M) in its Series C round of funding. With the current round included, YOOBIC has raised a total of $80M (approx €67.86M) in funding since its inception in 2014.
The round was led by Highland Europe, a growth-stage investment firm that backs software and consumer tech companies with sizable revenue growth and proven market adoption.
Additionally, existing investors including Felix Capital, Insight Partners, and a single-family office advised by BNF Capital Limited also participated in this round.
With this development, Jean Tardy-Joubert, Partner at Highland Europe, will be joining the YOOBIC Board. He says, “While companies have historically focused on digital investments for deskbound employees, the world is becoming distributed and decentralised. We anticipate a seismic shift that will see huge resources, technology, and capital shifted toward frontline teams.”
The pain point of the industry
According to YOOBIC, frontline workers in industries like retail, hospitality, manufacturing, healthcare and logistics make up 80 per cent of the workforce globally – that’s nearly 2.8 billion people. And the continuity of businesses depends on these workers.
With the ongoing pandemic crisis, the need for digital transformation for the frontline workforce has accelerated to help them keep up with the demands and pressure they face in their roles.
And the same goes for the businesses, they need tools to manage their frontline employees remotely – namely, gaining visibility into the execution, compliance and operational excellence of every location, as well as onboarding, training and upskilling staff during labour crunch.
“These challenges are what we developed the YOOBIC platform to overcome. Business performance, agility, revenue and profitability all start on the frontlines. If frontline staff aren’t empowered, the consequences for the entire organisation are far-reaching and profound,” says Fabrice Haiat, CEO & co-founder of YOOBIC.
Haiat also mentions that “there’s still much work to be done, as our recent survey of 1,000 frontline employees was very telling. Seventy-three per cent are still using paper forms every day, 34 per cent feel disconnected from their organisation and peers, and 40 per cent are only trained once a year or less.”
The solution
In the current scenario, businesses are resuming in-person operations and scale up to support the reopening economy while facing challenges of staffing shortages and post-COVID financial pressures. To overcome these challenges, businesses need to ensure consistent and efficient execution, streamlined communication, and improved training and upskilling for their frontline employees.
YOOBIC claims to offer an all-in-one digital workplace software platform that is designed for frontline teams. The company’s app gives retail associates, restaurant staff, fieldworkers, and all types of frontline employees a single centralised mobile hub to support their daily task management, deliver digital training, and enable communication with peers, supervisors, and HQ.
The company has already helped more than 300 top brands across 80 countries to give workers the digital support they need to succeed at over 335,000 locations spanning retail, hospitality, distribution, manufacturing, and more. Some of its clients include companies such as Boots, Carrefour, Lancôme, Lacoste, Logitech, Lidl, Peloton, Puma, Vans, VF Corp, and Sanofi.
YOOBIC was founded in 2014 by three brothers, Fabrice, Avi and Gilles Haïat. They have been working together for more than 15 years. Before YOOBIC, the brothers co-founded Vizelia, a pioneering energy monitoring solution that they then sold to Schneider Electric in 2011.
Recent growth
In the last 12 months, YOOBIC’s platform witnessed a 200 per cent increase in conducted activities, including from chats and videos to digital task completion and virtual training lessons. In March 2021, the company reached the milestone of 1 million activities per month on the platform.
Capital utilisation
The raised capital will help the company to continue its growth, including a 75 per cent increase in headcount to bring the company’s global workforce to 350 by 2022.
With an aim to lead the market in EMEA and accelerate its growth in North America, the funds will also help the company’s R&D efforts, particularly in areas such as data intelligence and predictive insights. Additionally, this will enable them to develop services for frontline employees in sectors such as manufacturing, warehousing, and transportation.
YOOBIC’s CEO & co-founder Fabrice Haiat says, “Our mission is to shape the future of work for the deskless workforce. They are essential to business success: they are the brand ambassadors of their organisation and are responsible to keep or break the company mission. This funding will consolidate YOOBIC’s position as a global market leader for frontline teams, helping brands to ensure all their employees feel connected, fulfilled, and valued to become the leaders of tomorrow.”
