Stuttgart, 13. February 2020 - Flip, the Stuttgart based employee messenger app, has successfully raised €3.6M ($4M) in one of Europe’s largest seed rounds. Founded in 2018, the start-up offers companies a modern platform that connects and informs employees across all levels in a legally compliant manner.
Re-thinking internal company communication
The employee app enables company-wide exchange and distribution of information to all employees, regardless of whether they work in the office, in production, in the warehouse, in the field or part-time. The application is based on a GDPR-compliant data and employee protection concept, which was validated jointly with experts and works councils of several DAX companies. Integration options for existing IT infrastructures allow seamless connection to existing processes. Thus, Flip complements and supports existing and future digitization projects in companies.
Capital for new employees, growth and expansion
The lead investors LEA Partners and Cavalry Ventures invest in the company together with Plug and Play Ventures and Business Angels such as Jürgen Hambrecht (Chairman of the Supervisory Board BASF), Prof. Dr. Kurt Lauk (Chairman of the Supervisory Board Magna International), Florian Buzin (Founder Starface) and Andreas Burike (HR Business Angel). The capital raised will primarily be invested in the expansion of the team and in the development of additional markets.
Prominent customer base
Since its start in 2018, the young company has already been able to win several well-known companies as customers. These include Porsche, Bauhaus, Edeka, Junge IG Metall, Wüstenrot & Württembergische. Parts of the Sparkasse and Volksbank are also among the customer base of the Stuttgart-based start-up. Flip is further supported by strong innovative partners such as Deutsche Telekom.
Flip founder and CEO, Benedikt Ilg, states:
"Flip is the easiest solution for internal communication in companies of all sizes. We are proud of the development of our company so far and see this investment as confirmation for our vision"..
Bernhard Janke from LEA Partners points out:
"As a young company, Flip has been able to attract prestigious clients. The lean solution can be integrated into existing IT systems and communication processes, even in large organisations. With the financing round, we want to further expand the team and product and thus support the founders in their vision of making digital workforce engagement accessible to all companies.“
Claude Ritter of Cavalry Ventures says:
"We are convinced that Flip is setting new standards in this still young market with its safe, lightweight and extremely powerful product."
Matthias Schievelbusch from Deutsche Telekom says:
"We are happy to have Flip in our Techboost program and receive very positive feedback about the team and the solution in every innovation workshops with our customers.”
Flip is the simplest, most efficient and safest way to inform and connect employees. For this purpose, the company bundles communication, information and processes in one application which is not only GDPR and works council-compliant, but also convinces with its simple and intuitive usability. Flip can act as a mobile endpoint for the intranet and enables desktop as well as non-desktop employees equal access to information. Flip is successfully used by numerous customers like Porsche AG, Wüstenrot & Württembergische, Edeka, Bauhaus or the young IG Metall. The company was launched in 2018 by Benedikt Ilg and Giacomo Kenner and currently employs 30 people at its headquarters in Stuttgart.
LEA Partners is an entrepreneurial-minded multi-stage private equity firm investing in growth technology companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. Founded in 2002, LEA Partners has advised on the investment in several companies. Operating out of Karlsruhe, one of Europe's largest technology clusters, its mission is to fund and support ambitious founders and executives by leveraging them with practical, hands-on growth expertise to achieve market leadership.