The funding will fuel Relay’s continued rapid revenue growth and help the organization scale to serve the thousands of frontline businesses choosing Relay.
Relay, a cloud platform for frontline teams, announced the close of a $13 million Series-A funding round from Sovereign’s Capital, Wind River Ventures, and existing shareholders.
“We are thrilled to partner with our investors to bring innovative solutions to frontline teams,” said Chris Chuang, CEO of Relay. “The need for digital transformation in frontline work has never been greater, especially with pervasive labor shortages and the lingering effects from the pandemic. This is the time for Relay to accelerate our vision of transforming frontline work by delivering innovative technology, designed specifically for the way frontline teams work and the unique challenges they face.”
Relay is a cloud-based platform that helps frontline teams improve communications, stay safe, and get more done. Demand for Relay’s platform has skyrocketed in the past year, with revenue growth of over 130% year-over-year and the addition of high-profile customers in Hospitality, Healthcare, Facilities Management, and other frontline industries. “This round of funding will enable us to continue accelerating our rapid growth rate, scale our team, and support further product R&D innovation.”
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“Frontline workers are the lifeblood of our economy, and they have unique needs that can’t be solved by tools built for desk-bound workers,” said Chuang. “With Relay, we’re making it easier than ever for frontline teams to communicate and collaborate effectively, no matter where they are or what device they’re using. Relay also provides workflow and communications data that frontline leaders have never before been able to accurately measure. With this data, they can improve their operations in multiple ways, as evidenced by a recent customer survey revealing 78% of our customers report an increase in productivity from Relay.”
While many technology companies are experiencing declining revenues and layoffs, Relay’s revenues have more than doubled and the company has hired over 35 new team members in the last 18 months and expects to continue growing its staff. Relay has thrived during these challenging times because the need for its solutions is more critical as frontline businesses urgently search for ways to improve their productivity in the face of recessionary market conditions and unprecedented labor shortages. “In this economy, frontline businesses have to get more done with fewer people. Achieving that requires more efficient communication and better coordination of teams and resources. Relay delivers both and we’re excited to partner with them on this important mission,” said Jake Thomsen, Managing Partner at Sovereign’s Capital.
Driving Relay’s rapid growth is demand for its recently unveiled “Operational Intelligence” platform. Relay’s Operational Intelligence platform provides leaders of frontline teams with real-time analytics on team performance against goals, allowing them to pinpoint areas for improvement. Relay is delivering its Operational Intelligence platform to tens of thousands of frontline workers across the US working in Hospitality, Healthcare, Food Services, Manufacturing, Facilities management, and other industries.
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“What excites us most about Relay is how impactful their seemingly simple solution is for frontline teams. Their platform not only enables teams to communicate more efficiently but to collaborate more effectively as they unlock the data around personal job performance and accountability, overall team productivity, and reduction of operational bottlenecks. It’s clear to us why Relay’s key metrics around customers and revenue retention and expansion are well above industry norms,” said Stephen Mutz, Co-founder and CEO of Wind River Ventures.
Relay is also growing fast in the Hospitality industry, where it serves thousands of hotels and resorts across the US, providing best-in-class safety and communications solutions for their teams. By combining real-time communication with real-time indoor location data, Relay can offer a solution that not only satisfies the requirements of many states and brands, but also allows staff members to summon and efficiently coordinate help in the event of an incident. In a recent survey, 77% of customers reported that Relay improved overall employee safety at their property.
Looking ahead, Relay expects to continue to rapidly grow revenues and scale its team, particularly in sales and customer operations roles, as the company fills out its headquarters office space located in the Advanced Auto Parts Tower in North Hills, Raleigh.