News from VF Venture and eloomi, Copenhagen, 28 September 2017:
eloomi receives EUR million investment from VF Venture
Within two years eloomi has reached companies on five continents with its unique learning and performance management platform. International strategy to scale with new funding injection from VF Venture, the venture capital fund of The Danish Growth Fund.
VF Venture injects a EUR million investment into fast growing learning and performance management platform eloomi.
eloomi has developed an online platform for companies, that connects their courses and training with the development of employees. A service that creates an entirely new approach to employee development, because the company gains real-time data allowing it to follow the individual employee and increase both motivation and results.
Platform was global from day one
From the beginning eloomi was an international business. Rather than just launching on a home market and then expand to selected markets, eloomi had a quite different strategy. They haven’t pursued a traditional market but a global audience, characterised typically by medium-sized organisations.
“Our approach to new markets has been to test which businesses and industries in the target segment demonstrate interest, and then we will work with these. You can think about our product as an innovation of the traditional LMS (Learning Management System). It fits all markets and industries. It’s a question of moving people in terms of competences and results, and that’s a mission to carry out whether you’re in retail, finance or any other industry. It’s the same thing that’s required to develop and move people,” says Claus Johansen, CEO and co-founder of eloomi.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is appealing to larger and more mature markets, and the customer gets access to the tool right away. You don’t need to acquire a new and expensive project or begin heavy installations and long implementations. Instead you just sign up and then you’re started.
We all know that it’s important for organisations that their users think that using the platform is in itself an awesome experience. And I think our efforts have now proved successful…
Claus Johansen, CEO, eloomi
Since eloomi has developed a minimalistic and globally recognisable design and a platform that has not been developed for the sake of the system itself but for people, the platform does not need modification for each individual market.
“As users, we are extremely picky about what software we want to use. It needs to be super simple, and what you see must make you feel engaged. This is the case both privately and on the job. That’s why it’s been crucial for us to create a platform that’s both appealing, simple and easy to use. We all know that it’s important for organisations that their users think that using the platform is in itself an awesome experience. And I think our efforts have now proved successful, as more than 100 companies and 250,000 employees in different corporate cultures from Asia Pacific to Europe, the United States and Central America want to use our tool,” says Claus Johansen.
Three times bigger in a year
The venture capital from VF Venture is aimed to boost the internationalisation. Even though the software so far easily sells to the entire world from Denmark, some markets require a local contact. Consequently, eloomi has among other established an office in the United Kingdom to have a direct local approach to the British market.
We are seeing exciting trends in the market that make us really believe in eloomi’s potential. What eloomi has created in such a short time is exceptionally unique.
Jacob Bratting Pedersen, Partner in VF Venture
According to Claus Johansen it is the company’s ambition to triple its size in one year, and eloomi can reach the target because they have the right strategy. VF Venture is backing that view.
“We are seeing exciting trends in the market that make us really believe in eloomi’s potential. What eloomi has created in such a short time is exceptionally unique. The competition to attract the best employees is increasing and more companies are aware of the importance of continuous learning to upskill and retain staff and not least get tools that are useful and provide improved results – both for the individual and the companies. As courses increasingly become online, the need for learning management systems, that help enterprises manage this aspect and turn it into concrete results, has emerged,” says Jacob Bratting Pedersen, Partner in VF Venture.
“The investment from VF Venture is primarily aimed for expanding the international salesforce and we are currently working with the management team to find and attract the best inside enterprise sales talents for eloomi,” Jacob Bratting Pedersen continues.
eloomi has previously drawn in major investments and consciously chose VF Venture to build a strong local anchorage.
“Several foreign venture capital firms have wanted to join us on our journey, but we believe that we will be in a stronger position facing big international players if we’re already backed by the big Danish funds. Denmark and Copenhagen make a solid signal on the global scene, and this way we’ve proven that our domestic players believe in us,” says Claus Johansen.
About eloomi
eloomi was founded in 2015 and has a team of 20 employees in its Copenhagen headquarters.
eloomi has B2B customers on five continents: Europe, Africa, Asia, North America and Australia. The platform has over 250,000 users and has a 10+ percent monthly growth.
eloomi has developed a software platform to manage employee learning and performance. Instead of buying the software, companies subscribe to eloomi.
The platform is designed so it doesn’t need local customisations to individual markets or industries. The customer makes its own adjustments.
About VF Venture, The Danish Growth Fund
VF Venture is The Danish Growth Fund’s department for direct investments, that on market terms invests equity capital in Danish companies with track records and in young, innovative Danish companies with ambitions to grow beyond its borders. The team invests in five to ten businesses yearly, and the active portfolio comprises more than 30 companies.
