Yoobic Raises $50M to Empower Frontline Workers with Chat App

The Evolving Landscape of Workplace Collaboration

Slack revolutionized workplace communication for knowledge workers, yet a significant segment – frontline employees – has been largely underserved. Now, companies focused on this demographic are attracting substantial investment, signaling a growing opportunity.

Yoobic Secures $50 Million in Funding

Yoobic, a provider of a dedicated application for frontline and service workers, has successfully raised $50 million in a Series C funding round. The app facilitates task management, communication between employees and management, and access to training and e-learning resources.

Highland Europe spearheaded the investment, with participation from existing investors including Felix Capital, Insight Partners, and a family office advised by BNF Capital Limited. Yoobic’s valuation is estimated to be between $300 million and $400 million.

Significant Growth and Market Opportunity

This funding arrives during a period of robust expansion for Yoobic. The company currently serves approximately 300 major brands across 80 countries, encompassing over 335,000 locations within the retail, hospitality, distribution, and manufacturing sectors.

Notable clients include Boots, Carrefour, Lancôme, Lacoste, Logitech, Lidl, Peloton, Puma, Vans, VF Corp, Sanofi, Untuckit, Roots, Canada Goose, Longchamp, Zadig & Voltaire and Athletico.

Despite representing 80% of the global workforce, the 2.7 billion “deskless” workers globally receive only 1% of total IT spending. This disparity highlights a substantial, largely untapped market for specialized software solutions.

Strategic Use of Funds and Product Development

The newly acquired capital will be allocated to talent acquisition, geographic expansion – with a shift in headquarters from London to New York – and product enhancement. Yoobic intends to integrate more sophisticated predictive analytics to improve responsiveness and provide deeper insights into platform usage.

Furthermore, the company plans to develop specialized tools tailored to specific frontline work verticals, such as manufacturing, logistics, and transportation, according to CEO and co-founder Fabrice Haiat.

From Retail Focus to Broadened Scope

Initially focused on the retail sector, Yoobic recognized the potential to extend its services to a wider range of industries with similar frontline employee needs. This strategic pivot proved particularly advantageous during the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Impact of the Pandemic

“COVID-19 had a big impact on us,” stated Haiat. “Initially, we faced uncertainty, but businesses quickly realized the critical role of frontline employees in maintaining operations.”

Platform activity surged by 200% following the pandemic's onset, and Yoobic surpassed 1 million monthly activities earlier this year, demonstrating significant growth.

The Unique Needs of Frontline Workers

Software designed for traditional office environments often fails to address the distinct requirements of frontline workers. Their mobile nature, customer-facing roles, and differing priorities necessitate specialized solutions.

Several companies have attempted to fill this gap, with recent consolidation activity in the market, including Square’s acquisition of Crew and ServiceMax’s acquisition of Zinc. Facebook’s Workplace is also actively targeting frontline workers.

Yoobic’s Competitive Advantage

Haiat contends that Yoobic possesses a more comprehensive understanding of the tools frontline workers truly require. This includes practical features like inventory management, alongside valuable employee resources such as professional development and training.

This deep market understanding and commitment to addressing unmet needs have fueled Yoobic’s growth and attracted investor confidence.

Investor Perspective

Jean Tardy-Joubert, partner at Highland Europe, commented, “We’re excited to partner with YOOBIC, which has established itself as a leader in the digital workplace space. We anticipate a significant shift in investment towards frontline teams as the world becomes more distributed.” Tardy-Joubert will join Yoobic’s board of directors.