Whimsical Secures First Funding to Fuel Growth

Whimsical Secures $30 Million in Series A Funding

Whimsical, a company focused on developing collaborative workplace tools, has announced the completion of its initial funding round. A $30 million Series A investment was secured, with Accel leading the charge.

Company Origins and Founding Vision

The company’s inception dates back to 2017, founded by Kaspars Dancis. He observed that conventional work tools – documents, spreadsheets, and presentations – often hindered effective collaboration, particularly with the rise of remote work arrangements.

Dancis’s vision stemmed from experiences over two decades prior. Originating from Latvia and beginning his career in California, he frequently collaborated with colleagues globally.

He explained to TechCrunch that while technology had advanced, certain aspects of work still presented challenges in distributed environments. A sense of disadvantage arose when team members weren’t physically co-located.

Addressing the Challenges of Distributed Work

Whimsical aims to surpass the benefits of in-person collaboration by concentrating on content creation and seamless teamwork. Dancis notes that while existing platforms offer these features, they often remain isolated, requiring users to switch between applications to share information.

The company strives to facilitate collaborative, distributed, and rapid workflows. Teams can create and exchange flowcharts, wireframes, mind maps, sticky notes, and documents without navigating away from a single platform.

Growth and Traction

This funding round follows a period of four years characterized by self-funding and profitability. The company has experienced a tripling of revenue within the last year and has amassed a user base of over two million across companies such as Intercom, Netflix, and Twilio.

Initially, Whimsical experienced organic growth and early adoption, allowing for continuous product development. The team remained relatively small, expanding from 12 to 30 members in recent months.

Strategic Investment for Future Expansion

By 2021, Dancis recognized a pivotal moment where continued bootstrapping, while successful, was limiting the company’s potential. External investment became necessary to accelerate product innovation and expand market reach.

This decision was informed by market data indicating substantial growth in the productivity management software sector. Grandview Research estimates the global market at $42.6 billion in 2020, projecting nearly a threefold increase by 2028.

“We are progressing towards a vision of a fully integrated experience, and further development is still required,” Dancis stated. “We’ve introduced ‘Docs’ alongside our whiteboard functionality, and we are planning to develop an integrated spreadsheet solution.”

Partnerships and Investor Confidence

Accel was identified as the ideal partner, alongside Basis Set Ventures and angel investments from executives at companies like Dropbox, Stripe, GitHub, and Google.

Daniel Levine, a partner at Accel, began monitoring Whimsical several years ago and formally engaged with the team in 2020. He viewed the existing customer base of sophisticated companies and the enthusiastic user feedback as positive indicators.

Adapting to the Remote Work Landscape

While tools like Figma and Slack were initially designed for communication and collaboration, Levine observed that they required adaptation to effectively support fully remote teams.

A demand emerged for specialized tools tailored to collaborative work, a need that Whimsical effectively addresses.

“Kaspars demonstrated a remarkable level of insight and acumen,” Levine commented. “Whimsical offers a streamlined user experience, yet beneath the surface lies a powerful suite of tools designed for efficiency. The company is pioneering a trend towards dedicated tools, and is currently leading the way.”