Multitudes, a software platform to manage and improve culture and performance, has raised NZ$2.4 million (AU$2.2m) in a seed round to build their beta product.
Blackbird Ventures led the oversubscribed round alongside former Reddit CEO Ellen Pao, and Culture Amp co-founder Jon Williams.
Multitudes uses workplace data to give managers insights and coaching to create happier, better-performing teams It integrates with the tools such as GitHub and Slack to highlight blind spots and provide recommendations on how to improve.
Founder Lauren Peate launched an alpha version of her SaaS product earlier this year and said she was looking for a global base of investors whose values aligned with Multitudes’ vision.
“Our investors recognise the link between culture and performance, and they bring relevant experience in HRTech, AI/ML technologies, scaling global B2B/enterprise businesses through to acquisition, and ensuring inclusive and equitable workplaces,” she said.
Peate developed Multitudes out of her frustration with seeing how easy is for leaders to miss culture issues.
A former Bain & Co consultant to Fortune 500 tech companies to working with startups, US-raised Peate moved to New Zealand five years ago.
“Managers have a lot on their plates; between that and the systemic bias we all face, everyone has blind spots,” she said.
“Our goal with Multitudes is to show how the human side of work is impacting team performance. We show managers their blind spots with the team and support them to improve team performance. We’re all better off when we unlock the full potential of our teams.”
Her goal now is to complete beta testing – sign up for their beta program here – before a roll out in the US, Australia and New Zealand.
Mathew Hartley from Storypark among the first customers.
“The data from Multitudes has helped us raise the right questions within our team and see the bigger picture. We’re now able to back our hunches with data to present to our senior leadership team and quickly relieve any bottlenecks,” Hartley said.
Blackbird Ventures Principal Tip Piumsomboon said the VC firm “loved” Multitude’s mission
“Lauren is a rare breed of founder, with strong instincts and a deep understanding of her customers while executing on product at a lightning speed. Her passion hits you in the face and she’s an incredible magnet for talent and evangelist for her cause,” she said.
Rather than being a Silicon Valley billionaire who looks at New Zealand as the perfect panic room, Peate says Aotearoa is the perfect place to launch a startup that takes on the world.
“With New Zealand getting Covid under control so quickly, we’ve been able to hire from a highly-skilled pool of Kiwis returning from around the world, and recently, we’ve been able to meet in person as needed for user testing or team strategy days,” she said.
“There’s a strong, closely-connected tech community here, and everyone is doing what they can to make sure we all succeed on the world stage.”
If you’re keen to see what Multitudes is building, sign up for early access to the beta program here.
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