With the so-called “Great Resignation” many frontline workers (nurses, truck drivers, etc.) are re-assessing their lives in the wake of the pandemic, while older companies are struggling with this new world order. Employees are also now demanding better communication, so app-ifying those comms makes sense.
France-based Snapshift started out as a staff management web solution for restaurants and raised only €3.9 million from Bpifrance and Femmes Business Angels. But it clearly hit on a clever idea, and one which is almost tailor-made to the times we now live in.
The HR platform has now re-fashioned itself as a platform for managing the so-called “deskless workforce” — a fashionable name for what used to be known as blue-collar or front-line workers.
It’s now raised $45 million in a Series A growth equity round led by Highland Europe, with participation from existing investors Bpifrance and UL Invest.
Following what it calls “huge demand” for its services in 2021, Snapshift now says it has 6,000+ customers, including Subway, Pizza Hut, Spar, Amorino, Biocoop, Fitness Park, Columbus Cafe and Carrefour.
The funding will be used to expand to all SMEs in the restaurant, hotel and retail sectors in Europe, with Spain as its first international target market.
Snapshift’s original product was created by startup and restaurant entrepreneur Olivier Severyns to help him manage his own staff rotas. He later decided to launch Snapshift for other businesses and now has over 70 employees, and is aiming for 150 in 2022.
Severyns said: “Our mission is to help SMEs understand and optimize all things human resources-related, by simplifying payroll management, staff scheduling and providing guidance on complexities like ever-changing social and employment laws. Many of Snapshift’s customers have been affected by lasting talent retention issues, precipitated by COVID. Snapshift’s product enables our customers to modernize their management systems, and promote trust and transparency, making them ‘great places to work’ for employees.”
Jean Tardy-Joubert, partner at Highland Europe, said: “We spoke to countless businesses in the broad hospitality and service industries that are struggling with the exact pain point that Snapshift is solving. As many industries face growing staffing problems, we believe there is a vast opportunity for Snapshift to bring its mission-critical platform into other sectors. We are very impressed by what Olivier and his team have accomplished in such a short space of time.”
Severyns added: “Our biggest competitor is Excel — 80 to 90% of our clients are making the move from Excel to their first digital scheduling solution.”
However, Snapshift does have SaaS competitors in the shape of Skello and Planday.
Skello, also based out of France, has raised $54.4 million to date, while Planday out of Denmark has raised $73.1 million. As you can see, the race is on to turn the HR function into a simple app…