Swiss workplace analytics provider Locatee raises $8.4 million

Swiss startup Locatee has raised $8.4 million in a growth financing round. The company uses data from a buildings’ IT infrastructure and converts it into space utilisation insights. The new funding is meant to continue the development of the platform as well as supporting customers who are redesigning and managing their office spaces based on Locatee’s analytics and data provisions, To date, the startup has raised a total of approximately $15.7 million.

While the concept of the smart office is nothing new, Locatee has been able to capitalise on the pandemic as businesses and offices scrutinise just how much of and how much in general office space they really truly need. With WFH being the acronym of the past 17 months, and gaining a place, whether that be welcomed or not, in our collective consciousness, facts are facts. Working from home has called the need for “the office” into serious consideration.

Long gone are the days when corporations could justify renting unused space with the caveat of, “well, we might need it one day.” The validity of a reassessment can only be based on hard data, and that’s exactly where Locatee steps in. By tapping into existing data streams (quite literally), Locatee is able to provide this data about who’s working where, and more importantly, who’s not working where.

“The last year has been quite the ride for Locatee - yet despite the market being in a pinch due to the pandemic, we could still see how our solution is highly valued and sought after,” commented co-founder and CEO Thomas Kessler. “Even in this context, we have seen our revenues grow significantly, as Locatee’s relevancy spans today’s questions and tomorrow’s challenges.”

Locatee’s $8.4 million in growth funding round was led by SmartFin and saw the participation from new investors Zürcher Kantonalbank, Swiss Immo Lab, and Verve Ventures. Existing investors FYRFLY Venture Partners and Tomahawk VC continued their support and followed on.

“Locatee has proven to be brilliant in establishing a strong, leading position in a new, exciting and fast-growing market and we believe this is a key time to build from this leading position and create the new standard for workplace data,” concludes SmartFin’s Jürgen Ingels.