Airspeed Launches Suite of Slack Apps to Transform Human Connection at Work with $5 Million In Seed Funding Led by Greylock and Venrock

By Business Wire On May 4, 2023

Airspeed, an innovative platform focused on connecting and celebrating employees, announced a $5M Series Seed round of funding. Greylock Partners and Venrock led the round, with participation from Salesforce Ventures, Next Play Ventures, and a number of notable CEOs and executives as angel investors. In addition to the capital raise, Airspeed secured a $2.5M debt line through Western Technology Investment.

“Given the rapid changes in the modern workplace, employee engagement and culture is of critical importance”

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a major shift in how we work, and now with the emergence of generative AI, we’re experiencing yet another radical work change. As companies navigate these rapid and unpredictable changes, retention-related costs have soared. Two-thirds of workers may leave their jobs due to feeling disconnected, and an incredible 92% of C-Suite executives admit that their company’s culture and connection need improvement.

While some companies are returning to in-office work, the problems of low engagement and lack of connection have always existed; the pandemic merely highlighted them. In 2022, over 50 million workers quit – up from 2021 – primarily due to the lack of connection with coworkers.

“Employees are looking for apps that support the human connection they seek at work,” said Doug Camplejohn, CEO and Founder of Airspeed. “We’re excited to tackle this challenge by creating an operating system for work culture that fosters true, meaningful connections.”

Airspeed enables teams to connect authentically. Airspeed’s family of Slack apps allows you to continuously learn more about your teammates, recognize each other, celebrate milestones, and discover what you have in common. Instead of piecing together products from different vendors, Airspeed provides a complete culture starter kit in one family of connected apps:

Intros – Easily welcome new hires and connect colleagues across departments or companies.
Celebrations – Never forget a birthday or work anniversary again. Easily track special dates and deliver virtual cards.
Icebreakers – Take 5 minutes to get to know teammates better each week and make meetings more fun.
Shoutouts – Easily send kudos, celebrate teammates, or suggest people for leadership to recognize.
Maps – See your colleagues on a team map. Schedule in-person meetups, stay connected with your team across time zones, and share upcoming travel plans.

The concept for Airspeed was born during the COVID-19 pandemic, as transformations to the future of work accelerated. Camplejohn, who previously served as GM of Sales Cloud at Salesforce, began to think critically in 2020 about how to build connection between remote team members and maintain a system of record for key cultural moments.

“Given the rapid changes in the modern workplace, employee engagement and culture is of critical importance,” said David Thacker, General Partner at Greylock. “Airspeed’s products provide a much-needed solution to help create a connected and engaged workforce, an essential ingredient for any high-performing organization.”

Airspeed’s Slack applications are available now through the Airspeed website and the Slack App Directory. In this Early Access period (through the end of the year), all applications are free. Once pricing is announced, a free forever tier will remain, and pricing for the entire family of apps will be on par with buying a single function Slack app.

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