Montréal-based startup Beehivr has closed a $1 million seed investment from Investissement Québec to launch a new digital sales room solution.
A spokesperson for Beehivr told BetaKit that the $1 million investment will also help the startup in hiring more talent.
The all-equity financing, which closed on June 1, is earmarked for the commercialization of Beehivr’s Welcome Spaces offering, an online platform that lets sales teams privately collaborate with their clients.
Each space includes options for video calling, sharing and requesting files, chat, and notifications. According to Beehivr, Welcome Spaces is aimed at companies that want to maintain lasting relationships with their customers through a modern experience. The startup cited professionals in sectors such as real estate, financial, accounting, and consulting.
Beehivr noted that Welcome Spaces was designed to meet the needs and experiences desired by their clients coming out of the pandemic.
“We have chosen to focus our efforts on developing an evolved version of our platform in order to simplify exchanges and collaboration between customers and professionals in a post-pandemic vision where customer relations would be more remote,” said Jean-Philippe Laforge, CEO and founder of Beehivr.
Founded in 2013, Beehivr provides sales enablement solutions for sales professionals and retailers. Beehivr claims a customer base that is dispersed throughout North America and Europe, including the Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC), Staples, Metro, Laura Canada, Reitmans, and Videotron.
In 2020, Beehivr received financial support from BDC Capital’s Growth & Transition Capital division to help the startup “weather the COVID-19 crisis while minimizing job losses.”
BDC Capital’s contribution was granted through the working capital loan program BDC has launched to support businesses affected by COVID-19. These loans feature low interest rates and patient repayment terms designed to give the business time to keep operating.
According to Investissement Québec, it chose to invest in Beehivr because it wanted to support local businesses that help small and medium-sized enterprises “more efficient and productive.”
“We are proud of supporting the Beehivr team in the next step of their platform development and in their commercialization.” said Guy LeBlanc, President and CEO of Investissement Québec.
A spokesperson for Beehivr told BetaKit that the $1 million investment will also help the startup in hiring more talent. Prior to this seed round, the spokesperson noted that Beehivr also received $1.5 million in funding within the last nine years.
Featured image from Beehivr’s website.