- SocialChorus, a leader in workforce communications SaaS, announced that Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP) along with existing investors has led a $100 million investment in the company
SocialChorus — a leader in workforce communications SaaS — announced that Sumeru Equity Partners (SEP) along with existing investors has led a $100 million investment in the company for accelerating growth and product innovation. The additional terms of the deal were undisclosed.
This investment will enable SocialChorus to continue its significant momentum of 50% year-over-year growth in both 2018 and 2019 — which has accelerated in 2020. There are hundreds of customers that use SocialChorus today — including 10 of the Fortune 50 — to power their workforce communications, reaching millions of workers across 165 countries with their most important company information from the world’s most advanced communications platform.
With SocialChorus, enterprises will be able to create and publish communications once in the platform, automatically send that content to any employee channel including mobile apps, intranets, and email.
In connection with the investment, the majority shareholder SEP will add principals John Brennan, George Kadifa, and Mark Haller to SocialChorus’ board of directors.
As enterprises are adapting to a constantly shifting landscape, SocialChorus’ recent growth has been driven by the digital transformation underway among large enterprises. And according to a McKinsey survey, 70% of business transformation initiatives do not reach their goals. Of the $1.3 trillion IDC projects that businesses will spend on digital transformation this year, over $900 billion could go to waste. The main reason for these failures is a lack of digital capabilities needed to support them.
Large organizations are grappling with their own change initiatives so having a workforce communications platform that can improve the return-on-investment of existing technology investments is critical. And SocialChorus allows business, IT, HR and communications teams to improve employee engagement, and mobilize around key business objectives to achieve this widespread transformation.
SocialChorus’ financial backers Kohlberg Ventures and Arrowroot Capital will continue as significant investors in the company alongside the founders and management. And GCA Advisors served as financial advisor to SocialChorus, while Union Square Advisors served as financial advisor to SEP.
KEY QUOTES:
“SEP has long followed the development of the workforce communications market, in which SocialChorus has been a leader and pioneer. Due to rapid shifts in the workplace, which have only accelerated with COVID-19, we believe SocialChorus’ next-generation software will be an invaluable resource for its customers. We are highly enthusiastic about partnering with Gary and the SocialChorus team to lead a new chapter of continued growth.”
— Brennan, Kadifa and Haller
“Digital transformation is reliant on human transformation, which can only happen if an organization’s communication infrastructure enables them to reach, align and mobilize all of their people. This is easy to say and difficult to do. At SocialChorus, we are excited to partner with SEP to expand our market-leading product innovation, customer success and go-to-market strategies to meet the needs of today’s global enterprises.”
— Gary Nakamura, SocialChorus CEO and board director
“The combination of SocialChorus with Microsoft Office 365 allows our communications team and functional leaders to publish, target and streamline delivery of content and information to all caregivers — across our Microsoft endpoints. In addition, unified analytics give us the ability to show how communications are driving our strategic initiatives, including our digital transformation.”
— BJ Moore, chief information officer, Providence Health & Services
