Measuring the impact of training on remote-first sales teams, Berlin’s Wonderwerk raises $2.5 million

Berlin-based Wonderwerk has raised $2.5 million in a seed funding round. Timely, indeed, as it would appear that we’re all being sent home again, the startup provides data-driven sales training services for remote sales teams. The new capital will be used to further fuel hiring efforts, particularly in its own sales and marketing teams, ramp up its data analytics features, and drive a US market entry plan.

Founded in 2019, Wonderwerk’s timing couldn’t be better, for as the pandemic rages on, that glimmer of hope that we saw just a few months ago seems to be sunsetting, driving many governments to re-impose the dreaded “stay at home, save lives” measures. Or rather simply put, here we go again.

While the phrase “the new normal” has been worked over like a grey workhorse, the fact of the matter is, for the foreseeable future, to coin another overworked, “it is what it is.”

According to Wonderwerk, “companies spend an estimated $30 billion each year on sales training even though 90% of it doesn’t work. This inefficiency has led to a crisis in the industry with an estimated 30 million sales people missing critical skills and up to 55% employee turnover.”

To combat these alarming statistics, the startup is taking a different route and measures the impact of training based on revenues. The company’s technology integrates into customers’ CRMs and measures how effective its sales training programs are at reducing ramp time and increasing conversion rates. What the means is that Wonderwerk is providing insights into what parts of corporate trainings are working and which aren’t.

And this isn’t just theoretical, as Wonderwerk states that clients Virtuagym reduced ramp time by 50%, and Babbel saw a 40% increase in conversion rates.

“We still see way too many companies burning and churning their sales reps. When things aren’t working out, they blame the people rather than taking responsibility for their own training processes. What most companies still don’t understand is the huge amount of money they lose every time a salesperson leaves”, explained Wonderwerk co-founder and CEO Bowen Moody.

Wonderwerk’s $2.5 million seed funding arrives via new investor Sparkmind.vc and startup studio Founders, with Black Pearls VC and Spring Capital also participating.

On the investment, Black Pearl VC’s Aleksander Dobrzyniecki commented, “Wonderwerk's product gives organizations a much-needed set of tools that allows them to measure the impact of training on performance, based on actual data. Bowen and Rouven have built a top-notch product and were successful in bringing an impressive client base early on. We are very excited to be a part of this round and support the company in its journey to become an essential part of every remote-first company’s toolkit.”