The funding will be used to drive talent acquisition for Saltmine’s Singapore-based teams, grow its portfolio of large corporate clients, and expand in the APAC region.
San Francisco-headquartered digital workplace platform Saltmine has raised US$20 million in a Series A round of funding, the company announced in a statement today.
Real estate company JLL’s strategic investment arm JLL Spark joined Saltmine as a new investor through the round, the statement said. JLL will be selling Saltmine’s software to its own customers under an agreement with the startup. Existing investors in the company Jungle Ventures and Xplorer Capital also participated in the round, the statement added.
Saltmine’s end-to-end enterprise workplace management solution helps corporations digitally manage office spaces. The company’s founder and CEO Shagufta Anurag is based in Singapore.
The company said in the statement that the funding will be used to hire talent across its sales, customer success, product and engineering teams based in Singapore. It will also aim to grow its client base of Global 2000 companies, which the statement said are looking to rethink office spaces in a “resilient, hybrid manner” after the onset of the global pandemic last year.
Saltmine will also use a part of the funding to drive growth in the APAC region with a focus on Australia, Hong Kong, India and Singapore, the statement said.
“We’re thrilled to have the support of our investors who are committed to the creation of great workplace experiences. Their support is paramount as we enable our customers to digitally transform and optimize their portfolio and bring employees safely back to work in a space that supports the future of work,” Anurag said in the statement.
Saltmine applies cloud, data and digital to workplace design and management
Saltmine allows companies to strategize, optimize and manage workspace design through its cloud-based data-driven digital platform. The solution helps improve employee experience and collaboration at the workplace while reducing costs, the statement noted.
“Real estate is the second-largest cost for companies and has a direct impact on their largest cost—their people,” Anurag noted in the statement.
The platform offers strategy, design, pricing, and portfolio analytics, combined with real-time data from ‘utilization sensors and employee sentiment information,’ according to the statement.
Saltmine was founded in 2017. Its customers include Workday, PG&E and Snowflake. The startup currently has 125 employees spread across five offices in Asia, Europe and North America. It also has partnerships with commercial real estate and design companies such as Space Matrix, Cushman & Wakefield, Newmark and Interior Architects, with JLL being the latest to join this list.
Last year, the company saw a spike of 80% in annual recurring revenue, and 2x growth in number of clients, according to a news report. It also saw 350% year-on-year growth in the platform’s monthly active users. Its customer retention rate is 95%, the company has said, with 50 million square feet designed and analyzed on the platform so far across 1500 projects, the report states.
“Saltmine is an example of [the APAC] region’s ability to build a world-leading, best in class software, which is defining a massive unserved category,” Managing Partner of Jungle Ventures David Gowdey said in the statement.
“Their workplace design software will help large enterprises safely bring employees back into the office, using smart technology. We are proud to partner with Saltmine in their growth journey and support the global team as they scale the business,” Gowdey also said.
In addition to the funding, Saltmine also announced two fresh appointments. Jim Baum, Executive-in-Residence at General Catalyst and Chairman at data company Cazena, will be joining Saltmine’s Board of Directors. The company also appointed Shawn Green as its new Chief Revenue Officer. Green will focus on expanding Saltine’s presence in North America.
Header image courtesy of Saltmine
Update (23/03/21): An earlier version of this story mentioned Fidelity as one of Saltmine’s clients. Saltmine has since requested to retract their name. The article has been revised to reflect this.
