Nudge Rewards announced that it has closed a $9.3 million (USD) growth round led by Chicago-based Jump Capital, with support from existing investors, to continue helping leading brands mobilize their frontline. Nudge has also announced that Michael McMahon, Managing Partner at Jump Capital, will join the Company’s board of directors.
In addition to scaling go-to-market capacity, the funding will be put toward growing the Data Science team in order to advance innovation within the emerging category of employee experience management, driven by predictive insights into frontline team performance that directly correlate to business outcomes, such as profitability and retention. By investing in machine learning and AI, Nudge is empowering customers to drive continual KPI improvement, with powerful recommendations enabling data-driven decision making.
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Nudge is one of the leading mobile-first solutions in frontline employee communication for experience-driven brands, empowering retail store associates and restaurant/hospitality staff to better deliver on the brand’s promise. The company has seen demand rise rapidly over the past three years, as brands increasingly realize the need for an effective way to influence and inspire their frontline as a means of solving inconsistent execution and performance. In the past year, Nudge has increased headcount by more than 40% and grown revenue by nearly 200%.
“Today’s announcement validates the increasing demand from world-class brands for a more effective way of connecting with their frontline employees. We’re thrilled to have the backing of Jump Capital as we enter our next phase of growth,” said Lindsey Goodchild, CEO and Founder, Nudge Rewards. “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.”
Driven by a belief that employees perform better when they are empowered rather than audited, the Nudge app draws on behavior theory to build meaningful employee programs from the bottom-up. Mobile campaigns are designed upon choice architecture–a way of presenting choices that positively influences behaviors, without disrupting the voluntary nature of “nudging.” Customers include Roots, Margaritaville, Samsung, and Golf Town, all of whom use Nudge to connect with their frontline in meaningful ways.
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“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 Michael 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.”
Nudge is experiencing a rapid upward trajectory, with six quarters of consecutive growth. The company recently released Manager Insights, which provides frontline managers with access to actionable team performance data at their fingertips, better enabling them to coach employees toward improving location metrics.
This latest round brings the company’s total financing to over $15 million USD, which includes funding from Jump Capital and existing investors BDC, Brightspark, Generation Ventures, and Standup Ventures. With a founding team that is two thirds female, Nudge’s leadership is active in local programs that work to close the gender gap in tech. “Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life, but we still see glaring gaps in how venture capital is allocated,” says Goodchild. “Nudge continues to prioritize working with partners such as Jump who demonstrate diversity within their own teams and portfolios. There are many reasons to be excited about our next chapter of growth, one of them being able to support other female founders along the way.”
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