A fast-growing employee engagement platform has raised a £1.5m investment for international expansion. 

WorkBuzz has secured the funding from its existing backers Mercia and Foresight, both of which invested via the Midlands Engine Investment Fund (MEIF), alongside funding from private investors.

The Milton Keynes-based company has more than doubled the size of its team since the original investment in March 2021, and now employs 35 staff, with plans to create an additional 15 jobs by the end of the year. Revenue has also more than doubled to £2m, while annual recurring revenue is continuing to grow by around eight per cent a month.

The latest funding will enable WorkBuzz to expand its sales and marketing team and ‘internationalise’ the platform, by adding new features and languages in preparation for further expansion, having already attracted a range of new clients in Australia. The company is planning a Series A fundraising in 2023.

WorkBuzz was launched in 2018 by Steven Frost who had previously run an employee engagement consultancy. It is now used by clients including Shell Energy, Premier Foods, HS2, Hovis and restaurant chain Five Guys.

The platform helps organisations to gather real-time feedback from their people, improve employee experience and build a more inclusive culture. HR managers are able to launch surveys in minutes, while algorithms help them analyse responses and highlight any areas for potential improvement. 

Steven Frost, CEO of WorkBuzz, said: “Here at WorkBuzz, we are on a mission to help organisations create cultures where every voice matters and every person can be their best. With generational talent shortages, fundamental shifts in how millions of people work and changing employee expectations, we’re excited to use the funding to amplify the difference we can make, faster.“

Stephen Windsor of Mercia added: "Organisations today not only face the challenge of managing remote workers, but also finding and retaining staff in a very tight labour market. WorkBuzz helps them to meet the challenge. With uptake of the platform growing rapidly in the UK, the latest funding round will help the company prepare to launch it on the global stage.”

Mark Wilcockson, Senior Investment Manager at the British Business Bank, said: “The MEIF supports Midlands-based businesses with ambitions to grow their international presence, and WorkBuzz is a perfect example of this. Through the funding, companies can help to upskill the wider Midlands region by creating new jobs and expanding into new markets.”

Vicky Hlomuka, SEMLEP’s Growth Hub Manager, said: “It’s incredibly encouraging to see so many businesses in our area securing the investment they need to continue to grow, innovate and diversify. WorkBuzz is a fantastic example of this, providing a highly valuable service that makes organisations not only more efficient but more inclusive and more attractive to job seekers.”

The Midlands Engine Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.