Agility Scales, a Dutch HR-tech startup that helps customers apply ‘agile methodology’ at work via gamification and crowd-sourced best practices, raised €750K ($0.9 M) in a seed round. Two large seed investors pooled in €250K and €100K, whereas the remaining amount came through crowdfunding from over 400 investors in 42 countries. The company will use the funds to focus on its product and market fit.
Agility Scales is a platform that crowdsources business workflows in the form of peer-to-peer guides to make work faster and easier. Through gamification and behavioral economics, the platform helps to search and use proven, context-rich practices within their teams and organizations.
Agility’s main product is Mind Settlers, the Android game app that helps people develop agile mindsets and enables constant iteration and crowd-sourcing of practices that are working effectively in real-world situations. The iPhone app of the startup is under-development and access to the Android app is invite-only at the moment.
I just published “Dutch Startup Agility Scales Raises 750K Seed Capital with Crowdfunding” https://t.co/HPtHLUepaR
— Jurgen Appelo (@jurgenappelo) February 5, 2018
The Netherlands-based company was founded in 2017 by Jurgen Appelo, a keynote speaker, and writer on agile business practices. It previously secured €300,000 in initial funding through a seed equity crowdfunding campaign from more than 150 investors. By June 2018, the company will initiate and complete Android, iOS, web and database development and plans to increase team size up to 10 members.
Crowdsourced agile practices
Organizations that are not transforming fast enough to business agility are at a relative disadvantage. To achieve agile business practices, executives aim to bring in innovative and productive business ideas for industry disruptions. Agility Scales solution aims to bring the agile mindsets on a single platform. Agility Scales app Mind Settlers provides guidelines to improve teams, solve complex problems and increase agile mindsets in teams.
The app has over 2000 signups for early access based on a high-level signup page. The company will use the funds to achieve its milestone of 250 individual subscribers and 10 paying corporate clients.
Crowdfunding as a ‘go-to-market’ strategy
The rise of crowdfunding platforms like Kickstarter, IndieGoGo, Symbid and Sweden-based Fundedbyme have made way for a lot of startups to realize their dreams and kickstart interesting projects. As reported before, Solarus raised €900,000 in crowd-based funding for its hybrid solar collector that harvests up to 70% of the energy from the sun. Another startup Bolt Mobility raised a whopping €3.1 million crowdfunding for its internet-enabled electric “Appscooter”.
And, it seems crowdfunding, a collective way of raising money for venture projects by asking a large pool of interconnected individuals for a small amount of money, has become the ‘go-to-market’ strategy for startups looking not only to raise funds but also vet their ideas from customers in the market.
