Even after the disruptions caused by the pandemic, remote working models and home offices are still popular among many companies. It’s clear that employees appreciate the opportunity to work from anywhere, while at the same time reducing CO2 emissions by eliminating their daily commute.
However, the downside of modern work models is a lack of social interaction. Communication exclusively via appointments or telephone calls has led to some extent to high turnover, little team spirit, and sometimes a feeling of isolation in the home office.
After a year of offering a software solution that enables companies to better connect their employees in the home office, bNear announces that they have convinced further investors of their mission. The German startup has raised over €1 million in its first round of financing. The new investors include the Berlin-based HR tech VC allygatr and NRW Bank.
The new backers complement the existing investor board with Flossbach von Storch, business angels from the DACH region and C-level executives. With the fresh capital, the one-year-old startup, plans to expand its team, develop new features, and expand its marketing and sales activities. bNear is the first virtual office – fully integrated into Microsoft Teams. With the software solution, the founders address the problems of remote and distributed teams.
“For many people, working from home has become indispensable. We are pleased that even after the Corona period, investors and large companies continue to believe in home office and remote work models and want to expand further and improve them together with us,” says Malte Hendricks, founder of bNear.
Allygatr CEO Benjamin Visser also comments, “bNear is the new home for remote and hybrid teams. Remote and hybrid work poses new challenges for companies – and bNear, as a virtual office, offers the right solution to solve many of these challenges.
Founded in March 2022, bNear creates new places in the digital space for collaboration, chance encounters, spontaneous interactions, and informal exchanges in hybrid and remote teams. Unlike its competitors, bNear is fully integrated with Microsoft Teams. The integration makes the solution easy to install, scale, and deploy within minutes even in large organizations without privacy concerns.
The German startup now has 11 employees and consists of new work coaches, business consultants and digital experts. The startup has been accepted into the global Microsoft Startup Program (Founders Hubs). In addition, the young company is part of various initiatives of the NRW startup ecosystem such as Gateway Exzellenz Start-up Center, digihub Düsseldorf, TechHub.K67, Digitalhub Bonn.
