Relay Closes $35 Million Series B Funding to Drive Greater Productivity and Safety for Frontline Businesses and Workers
Led by G2 Venture Partners, funding will fuel Relay’s rapid growth and innovation of new products to serve industries ranging from hospitality to healthcare
Relay, the cloud-based communications platform designed to improve productivity and safety for frontline teams, announced $35 million in Series B funding, led by G2 Venture Partners, with participation from existing investors including Wind River Ventures and Sovereign’s Capital. The new funding will be used to fuel Relay’s expansion into new markets and accelerate its product roadmap.
Relay is a solution designed specifically for deskless workers in frontline industries, like hospitality, healthcare, facilities management, education, manufacturing and warehousing. Known for replacing traditional two-way radios with a modern cloud-connected Relay+ communication device, Relay’s platform also offers smart features that enhance worker safety. With Relay, team members can initiate a safety alert, which automatically notifies relevant staff, provides the exact location of the alert, and creates an instant communication channel for staff to coordinate their response to the safety incident. The entire incident can be logged in Relay’s cloud, and reviewable after the fact for operational improvement purposes. This capability, which is used in thousands of hotels and hospitals, has already helped to save lives.
“This funding round marks an inflection point for Relay, as we look toward our next stage of growth,” said Chris Chuang, CEO of Relay. “Our team is on a mission to unleash frontline productivity with our transformative breakthrough technology. Importantly, we are making these innovations accessible for the first time to traditionally disconnected frontline teams through the unique simplicity, reliability, and affordability of our solution. Relay enables frontline teams to seamlessly connect no matter where they are, what device they are using, or even what language they speak. And, we do all this in an affordable model through which businesses can see rapid time-to-value.”
Relay has gained rapid adoption among frontline teams due to its powerful yet easy-to-deploy technology, eliminating the traditional need for third-party installers or technicians. Developed by the creators of Consumer Report’s top-rated prepaid carrier, Republic Wireless, Relay is an enterprise-grade platform delivered through a consumer-grade simple user interface design. Adding to its simplicity, Relay seamlessly utilizes multiple cellular networks and WiFi to provide maximum reliability and nationwide coverage on a turnkey basis. Relay’s platform is also accessible via a smartphone app or web interface, enabling frontline teams spread across different locations and physical contexts to now connect with each other regardless of what type of device they are on. All of these product innovations have enabled the company’s rapid revenue growth, placing Relay among the 500 fastest-growing companies in North America per the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 list for 2023.
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“Relay has an exceptional customer-focused team that has built a platform for frontline workers that its users love,” said David Mount, partner, G2 Venture Partners, who will join the Relay board of directors. “As we spoke to customers, we heard time and again that Relay is delivering increased connectivity, safety and productivity among frontline workers. Its product ushers in a significant paradigm shift for customers who have not seen substantial innovation around communications devices for decades. Relay’s modern product and customer-first approach are driving outstanding growth for the company. The platform empowers frontline workers to do their best work, whether in hospitals, hotels, warehouses, or manufacturing environments. We are excited to partner with Relay in their next phase of growth, modernizing frontline work throughout the economy.”
Relay makes frontline teams more productive, by making it simple, fast, and affordable for them to stay connected with their teammates. 72% of Relay customers report that Relay enables them to be more responsive to customers’ needs. 77% of customers report that Relay helps efficiency, both by communicating more effectively, but also by automating mundane error-prone tasks, like logging security rounds or automatically recording task completion. Relay is already operating at scale, serving thousands of frontline businesses and hundreds of thousands of deskless workers, who collectively exchanged more than 2.5 billion messages using the Relay platform.
“We received overwhelming investor interest in our Series B round, and are thrilled that the process enabled us to find the perfect partner in G2, whom we are confident can help us accelerate our vision to connect millions of frontline workers and give them access to the transformative power of the cloud to make their work safer and more productive,” concluded Chris Chuang.
The Series B funding follows the recent launch of Relay’s new translation product in April 2024, TeamTranslate™, which uses AI to automatically detect and translate voice and text messages between team members into each user’s preferred language. In 2023, the company raised a $13M Series A funding round.
