Nudge Rewards, the Toronto-based company offering a way for employers to engage and reward their frontline managers and staff, today announced the close of a $12 million CAD ($9.3 million USD) venture capital round. The company, which previously raised a Series A in 2017, is calling this a “growth round.”
“[This] validates the increasing demand from world-class brands for a more effective way of connecting with their frontline employees.”
The funding was led by Chicago-based Jump Capital, with support from existing investors, which in the past has included BDC Capital’s Women in Tech Fund, Brightspark, Generation Ventures, and Standup Ventures, among others. Nudge Rewards stated that this capital will help scale its go-to-market capacity and “drive innovation in employee experience management.” As part of the deal, Michael McMahon, managing partner at Jump Capital, is set to join Nudge Rewards’ board of directors.
“Today’s announcement validates the increasing demand from world-class brands for a more effective way of connecting with their frontline employees,” said Lindsey Goodchild, CEO and founder of Nudge Rewards. “We’re thrilled to have the backing of Jump Capital as we enter our next phase of growth. Jump shares our passion for digital transformation of an underserved workforce and being at the forefront of innovation in employee experience data across our key industries.”
The new capital will also be put toward growing the startup’s data science team, in order to advance innovation within the industry, powered by predictive insights. Nudge Rewards noted that by investing in machine learning and AI, it hopes to empower customers to drive KPI improvement, as well as enable data-driven decision making processes.
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Founded in 2013, Nudge Rewards’ app connects employers with frontline employees to provide them with critical information, deliver training materials, and reward them with recognition for hitting goals. According to the company, its platform was built on a foundation of behavioral theory and social mechanics. The company works with retail, foodservice, and hospitality organizations like Roots, Rogers Communications, Compass Group, Golf Town, and Samsung.
In 2017, Nudge Rewards raised a $5 million CAD Series A to expand across North America. Prior to that the company had raised $3.2 million, with at least $1 million of that funding from Greengage, in 2013. Nudge Rewards stated that this latest round brings its total funding to date to more than $15 million USD.
“We are extremely excited to partner with Lindsey and the Nudge Rewards team as the emerging market leader in the empowerment of frontline associates,” said McMahon. “Our investment reflects a shared conviction that tremendous value can be unlocked through the effective engagement and nurturing of customer-facing resources creating differentiated customer experiences and better financial outcomes.”