Sydney-based tech company Deputy has secured venture financing that will help take its acclaimed employee management software for venues to a global stage.
Deputy was launched in 2008, and founders Steve Shelley and Ashik Ahmed have thus far self-funded expansion into offices in the USA, United Kingdom and Philippines. It now boasts over 28,000 business clients in 73 countries, including global brands such as Amazon, Qantas, Nike and NASA.
The product simplifies scheduling, timesheets, tasking and all forms of employee communication, helping businesses better manage the complex job of utilising casual and shift staff.
“Shift workers comprise close to 60 per cent of the world’s labour force, yet the technology to serve these workers and their employers is unsuited to such a large and complicated task,” states Shelley.
“Workers have been left frustrated with countless hours wasted and less-than-optimal work schedules created by legacy tools.”
OpenView is an expansion stage venture capital firm that helps “build software companies into market leaders”. It has seen fit to invest $25 million into Deputy through its Expansion Platform, representing the largest ever capital injection in its decade-plus history.
The money will be used to rapidly expand Deputy’s presence in Australia and overseas, helping to attract and hire the best talent, acquire customers, and partner with sector leaders to grow and dominate the market.
“We’re looking forward to working with the team and realising Deputy’s further growth potential in the coming years,” says Overview managing partner, Daniel Demmer, who will join the Deputy board as part of the agreement.
Deputy is a mobile, cloud-first software solution designed specifically to transform archaic methods of employee time-tracking and scheduling, regularly done using spreadsheets and manual workflow systems.
It provides users the ability to auto-optimize schedules by role, hours worked and other criteria, and offers mobile apps and one-click payroll integration.
The founders point to the steady growth and “casualisation of the workforce” in many sectors, including hospitality, retail, aged care and on-demand services. This labour market is reportedly growing at the rate of more than one million people each year in the USA, and not likely to slow anytime soon either there or in Australia.