Serbian startup WorkPlus received a joint investment from two SEE-focused investment funds, StartLabs and SC Ventures. WorkPlus thus becomes the first startup in Serbia to receive a combined investment from two funds. The official press release was published earlier this week, whereas the invested amount remains undisclosed for the time being.
Seed investment round for WorkPlus
This seed investment round was completed in partnership between StartLabs – a US based investment fund with offices in Belgrade and San Francisco, and SC Ventures – a 40 million euro worth Balkan investment fund headquartered in Zagreb, Skopje and Belgrade. StartLabs was the first to welcome WorkPlus into their portfolio a few months ago, whereas SC Ventures have recently joined StartLabs in this mutual venture.
StartLabs
StartLabs is a US-based investment fund targeting startups from Southeast Europe. Apart from seed funding, StartLabs also offers 6-month-long mentorship programs, office space in San Francisco and Belgrade, technical infrastructure, business services, and connections to other active players in the startup ecosystem. The seed investment they provide to startups amounts up to $50,000. The current portfolio of StartLabs now counts 11 startups from the region, including: WorkPlus, Kidster, Fragrance By Me, MobiCon, Swapp, WhoAPI, MangoCoinz, Loyalis, CarLock, LegalTrek, and Business Exchange.
“We are thrilled to have SCV as a part of WorkPuls team. But, we are also very excited about the fact that the regional startup and investment scene is becoming more and more active: with this partnership, we have co-invested in various companies with all active investors in the region. We are looking forward to expanding this network and activities even more in the future,” states Nebojsa Lazic, Partner at StartLabs.
SC Ventures
SC Ventures is a VC fund based in the Balkan region. The fund, whose investment focus is also Southeast Europe, has allocated 1.5 million euro for seed investments and their target investment per company is up to 3 million euro. To date, accumulated investments of SC Ventures, excluding the unknown amount invested in WorkPlus, reaches 2 million euro. The portfolio of SC Ventures now consists of four startup companies, all based in Serbia: WorkPlus, Agrivi, CityExpert, and dryTools. Superfounders already informed you about the details of two SC Ventures deals (the 700.000 euro investment in City Expert and the 300.000 euro funding of dryTools) in our previous blog posts on SC Ventures investments.
According to SC Ventures, their latest investment will allow WorkPuls to expand the team and support the global expansion of the company. “We are very glad to have teamed up with StartLabs on this investment. We all believe in the determination and dedication that Ivan brings to the table and look forward to Workpuls’ expansion,” is the official statement from South Central Ventures.
WorkPlus – Management tool for monitoring and productivity
WorkPlus is one of the alumni startup companies of the second generation of Startit Academy in Serbia. The company joined the StartLab portfolio in April 2016 and have since gained initial traction with early customers and managed to scale up their operations. According to StartLabs, thanks to the competence of the team behind WorkPlus, the company already has a solid number of paying customers including Fortune 500 companies, corporations, and government institutions.
Founded by Ivan Petrovic (software developer), Petar Cekerevac (business developer), and Marija Grgur (marketing and sales), WorkPlus developed a measurement tool to monitor websites and apps that employees use during work time. Their product is intended to serve the management team of a company, providing useful insights into the level of productivity of employees. This helps managers keep track of the time employees spend on certain tasks or the activities they are engaged in and also reduce slacking, distractions and amount of wasted time. By using data collected with WorkPlus, managers can optimize the workflow and improve operational performance increasing the overall productivity of distributed and local teams.
“WorkPuls is a great software that helps me stay informed about what everyone in the office is doing. This is important for everyone who wants to stay in charge of their employees,” customer statement from Devam Singh, FMEC.
Watch the video below to learn how this tool works:
Video credit: WorkPlus