Aware Secures $60M Funding for Communication Monitoring Technology

The Rise of Internal Social Media Monitoring: Aware Secures $60 Million

For years, companies have utilized social media monitoring to gauge public perception, identify key trends, and enhance responsiveness in an increasingly connected world. Now, a similar approach is being applied internally, with Aware – a company specializing in monitoring organizational messaging – announcing a new funding round. This signals a growing interest in extending these principles within businesses.

Funding and Growth

Aware, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, has successfully raised $60 million in a Series C funding round. Goldman Sachs Asset Management’s growth equity division spearheaded the investment.

Existing investors, including Spring Mountain Capital, Blue Heron Capital, Allos Ventures, Ohio Innovation Fund, JobsOhio, Rev1 Ventures, Draper Triangle Ventures, and JumpStart, also participated in this funding initiative. While the company hasn’t disclosed its exact valuation, PitchBook estimates it at $215.50, potentially reaching $226 million based on funding trajectories.

According to Jeff Schumann, CEO and co-founder of Aware, the company has experienced “exponential” growth since its Series B round of $12 million in 2020. Revenue has increased by 175% year-over-year, with growth exceeding 300% since December.

Expanding Technological Capabilities

Aware intends to allocate the new funding towards further development of its technology. Currently, the platform focuses on analyzing text-based communications on platforms like Slack, Teams, and Workplace (Facebook’s enterprise solution).

The system identifies potential issues such as legal compliance violations, confidential information leaks, negative sentiment, toxic conduct, and instances of harassment. Future plans include expanding monitoring capabilities to video conferencing tools like Zoom, and refining its natural language processing and detection algorithms.

Navigating a Complex Landscape

Aware operates within a nuanced and often debated area of enterprise IT. If external social media platforms are held accountable for harmful content, a similar standard could reasonably be applied to internal communication channels used by organizations.

The company already serves a substantial client base, including prominent organizations like AIG, AstraZeneca, BT Group, Memorial Health, MercadoLibre, Rivian, Sunlife Financial, and Wipro. These customers average 15,000 users, with some exceeding hundreds of thousands of employees.

The Impact of Remote Work

Schumann highlights that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly accelerated the demand for Aware’s services. The shift to remote work has dramatically increased communication volume on messaging platforms. A typical organization of 10,000 employees now sends approximately 180 million messages annually, with larger organizations reaching up to 1 billion – a 300% to 1,000% increase from pre-pandemic levels.

This surge in digital communication necessitates software solutions like Aware’s to effectively monitor for potentially harmful or illegal activity.

Privacy Considerations and Ethical Concerns

While workplace messaging platforms appear “open,” many conversations occur privately, either one-on-one or within small groups. This raises concerns about employee privacy, as monitoring these communications could be perceived as an intrusion.

The potential for sensitive information to be used against employees is a valid concern, particularly when conversations are not explicitly illegal. Recent instances, such as Amazon’s monitoring of labor organizing discussions, demonstrate employee resistance to such practices.

Evolving Transparency and Data Handling

Aware emphasizes its commitment to anonymizing the data it tracks. However, questions remain regarding the ability to take action against specific individuals based on anonymized findings. The company’s branding has also evolved, initially launching as “Feedcop” and then “Wiretap,” names that carried potentially negative connotations.

Key Data Points and Insights

Aware’s data reveals concerning trends in workplace communications. On average, one in every 190 private messages and one in 280 public messages is flagged as containing “negative conversations.” Furthermore, one in 149 private messages and one in 262 public messages involve the sharing of passwords.

Confidential data is shared in one in 135 private messages and one in 118 public messages. Messages within private groups are 135% more likely to be toxic than those in public channels, and one-to-one private conversations are 250% more likely to exhibit toxic behavior.

Looking Ahead

The ethical and legal boundaries of monitoring workplace communications will likely remain a subject of debate. Ultimately, definitive answers may require legal rulings. For now, Aware’s services and their adoption will continue to attract attention from both customers and investors.

David Campbell, an MD at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, stated, “At Goldman Sachs, we believe in the transformative power of technology and see potential in Aware’s ability to connect fragmented data that exists within organizations across many sectors.” He further added, “The Aware team addresses information management, data protection and organizational insights at scale through their feature-rich platform that can satisfy the most demanding global enterprises, yet is simple enough to serve the mid-market.”