Kaido, a Birmingham-based startup that provides virtual team-building services for remote and hybrid workforces, has raised £400,000 in seed funding.
The investment – shared exclusively with UKTN – was led by Longrow Capital Finance. The University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust provided further funds via its SME Innovation Fund, in partnership with the West Midlands Academic Health Science Network and Mercia.
The investment brings Kaido’s total funding to £600,000. Kaido runs four-week digital team-building challenges for companies with 50 employees or more. Employees are given daily wellbeing challenges to complete in areas ranging from mindfulness to physical activity.
Its platform is used by the likes of Google, HSBC and the Department of Health and Social Care. The company says over 40,000 employees took part in a “Kaido challenge” in 2021.
Founded in 2016, Kaido initially made its platform available to NHS Trusts and public sector organisations. In 2019, it began offering an enterprise service for large businesses “looking for a more inclusive and accessible alternative to the more traditional company-wide physical activity challenges”.
The NHS-backed startup says the shift to remote and hybrid working, along with its new focus on the SME market, has seen its subscriber numbers increase by 420%.
“Teams are crying out for a sense of shared experience as they navigate this new hybrid world,” said Kaido CEO Rich Westman. “The current employee engagement model is broken, only helping a small percentage of a team. We want to create a world where every employee thrives and feels included, no matter where they are and we are delighted to partner with Longrow Capital to help make this a reality.”
Kaido told UKTN that it’s looking to close a Series A funding round “at the end of 2022”. The startup is aiming to raise between £4m and £7m “depending on traction and progress”.
Because the platform is designed for hybrid and remote teams it can be used by companies in any country. However, Kaido said it is currently focusing on the UK market, although larger customers such as HSBC are using the platform for its teams across the US, Europe and Asia.