As the global economy descends, many companies are hunkering down, cutting headcount and spending. While the economic outlook may look somewhat pessimistic, corporate companies are desperate to hold on to talent as more employees look to change roles.
Is in that scenario that Copenhagen-based HR tech firm Woba announced a new investment of €2.95M coming from existing investors PreSeed Ventures and Denmark’s export and investment fund, EIFO.
Since 2016, Woba is helping managers with measuring and reducing staff turnover with its all-in-one HR platform. The startup has been quick in building a successful product and bringing it to market, which has given them room to spend the past year expanding its presence across 35 new countries. The rapid expansion has led to an outstanding 200% surge in its user base beyond Danish borders, and if you ask co-founder and CEO, Malene Madsen it’s just another step on Woba’s journey:
“I have a vision that Woba will be the world-leading HR impact solution within 5 years. We have crafted a focused growth plan across customers, user numbers, team, product, go-to-market, and financing to achieve this goal. So far, we have achieved everything we’ve set out to, so I expect us to continue this way,” Madsen said.
The recent bag of fresh funding will be the fuel to drive the HR platform’s entry into further meticulously chosen international markets, and to continuously expedite Woba’s worldwide influence. With active participation from all existing investors during the latest funding round, Woba are confident in following their plans for the future.
General Partner from the PSVTech01 Fund at PreSeed Ventures, Helle Uth, has been active as a board member in the company ever since their first investment back in 2021. Now she leads yet another investment from PreSeed Ventures in Woba with the same level of confidence:
“It’s a rare occasion to find a tech startup that has the ability to bring in a positive cash flow while pursuing an aggressive expansion strategy just like Woba has. And despite corporate cost-cutting, the best HR tech startups experience more demand than ever. No matter the market situation, companies need to recruit talent and motivate and incentivize them to retain it. With our recent investment, we’re keen to see how quickly and how well Woba will find its foothold in new, foreign markets,” commented Helle Uth.
Senior Investment Associate at EIFO Investments, Jacob Henriksen, is keen too about reinvesting in Woba and joining their board as Woba could be a definitive way to build better workplaces:
“In EIFO, we are joining the vision of creating a platform that can assist companies in enhancing workplace well-being. Woba gathers all feedback from workplace assessments and employee satisfaction surveys in one platform. All of this data can be translated into concrete action plans that reduce the risk of issues such as workplace dissatisfaction,” Henriksen added.
Co-founder and CEO, Malene Madsen has steered employee retention towards new standards since 2016, when she and her co-founder, Mikkel Bindesbøl, started Woba. Over the course of 7 years, Madsen has been in charge of raising more than €5M VC funds for Woba, and by doing so Madsen joins an exclusive club of female founders challenging the status quo of what a successful tech founder looks like and pushing the industry to change the status quo.
