Beekeeper picks up $13M to grow hotel employee communication platform

Beekeeper, a platform that provides two-way communication among hotel employees, has raised an additional $13 million as a part of its Series A extension round.

Since its launch in 2012, Beekeeper has raised a total of $26 million.

Atomico and Keen Venture Partners led the latest round with participation from additional investors including Samsung Next, Edenred Capital Partners and Swiss Post. All existing investors, including FYRFLY Venture Partners, ALPANA Ventures and Investiere.ch participated as well.

Beekeeper connects employees across locations and departments in real time via a mobile app. The system can be used to automate communications with trigger-based workflows, send internal announcements and surveys and share files among employees. A chatbot function can be used to respond to common requests.

Beekeeper also includes a dashboard to help companies measure the effectiveness of their employee communication strategy and engagement rates.

In a statement, Beekeeper says it plans to use the funding “to invest in hospitality market growth, innovation and its information security management system.”

Beekeeper also plans to grow its Marketplace, which provides apps and integrations that can be used within the app to customize the experience. Examples include tools for shift management, pay slip distributions and crisis communication.

“Beekeeper plays right into the heart of the digital workplace trend,” says Robert Verwaayen, general partner at Keen Ventures.

“We believe that Beekeeper is on a path to become an indispensable collaboration tool for the 80% of the global workforce that has been largely forgotten by digital technology. The market opportunity, strength of the product and the talent of the team gives Beekeeper a real shot at becoming a meaningful giant in the mobile enterprise space.”

Beekeeper is based in Zurich and San Francisco and has clients including Marriott, Hilton and Intercontinental Hotels and Resorts in more than 130 countries.