Berlin's Sharpist snags $5 million seed funding to expand professional development platform

Berlin-based startup Sharpist has raised a $5 million seed round to continue developing its personalised learning platform for professionals. The round was led by Vorwerk Ventures and joined by btov Partners and APX. Sharpist designed its platform to help employers retain a workforce that demands constant professional growth and learning, or otherwise grows restless and finds a new job. The global market for professional learning and development is estimated to be worth $130 billion this year, according to Deloitte. “As the loyalty felt by top talent toward employers has eroded, the global war for talent has only continued to intensify in recent years,”  said Fabian, COO and co-founder. “In the past year, we’ve shown that our personalized learning platform is a proven and scalable remedy for increasing engagement among employees, and gives HR leaders the measurement capabilities they desperately need. The startup says it has converted 95 percent of its pilots into large-scale implementations, including enterprises such as Allianz and Porsche. As a result, the company saw 400 percent growth in its active user base in Q4 of 2019 alone.

The seed funding will go toward expanding beyond the business' current 30 markets, growing its global network of professional coaches, and hiring more team members in Berlin. Holger Witte, partner at Vorwerk Ventures who will join the company’s board, said: “Today’s workers expect their employer to offer meaningful contributions to their skillset, future professional prospects and sense of career balance. Sharpist is leading the way in facilitating measurable, personalized learning at scale to help top employers deliver on this expectation, and come out ahead.”