London-based future of work startup Wazoku grabs £8.5 million from Octopus Ventures, acquires Mindpool

London-based future of work startup Wazoku has raised £8.5 million in funding to support the research and development of its work management platform. The Series B round was backed by Octopus Ventures along with participation from Calculus Capital. The new cash will be utilised for further internationalisation and hypergrowth.

In 2020, Wazoku raised £1.25 million from the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) and Calculus Capital.

Wazoku has also announced the acquisition of the Danish intelligence platform Mindpool. The acquisition is its third in three years. Mindpool, backed by investors such as Game of Thrones star Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, captures employee insight to improve organisational performance. The acquisition extends the company’s collective intelligence offering driving further insights, engagement and predictions across the innovation at scale process. The Mindpool team will join the Wazoku business as part of the transaction, extending its reach and presence even further in Denmark and across Europe.

Founded in 2011, the AI-powered platform Wazoku facilitates digital communication between workspaces and contains a suite of products used for tasks such as talent scouting and supply chain management. The platform is currently used by the likes of NASA, Enel, HSBC, and Shell.

Simon Hill, CEO of Wazoku said: “I’m a champion of collective intelligence. So it's fantastic to be able to bring Mindpool into the Wazoku business. It will be a valuable addition to our platform, combining human intelligence and technology to create a compelling proposition, offering actionable insight into company performance for all our global customers and through our Innovation_360 suite, we can remove the friction and improve the success rates from insight to impact.”

Rich Bolton of Octopus Ventures added: “In a world in which volatility and complexity are increasing and the nature of work and talent are drastically changing, it is critical that organisations develop the capability and capacity to think and act differently when it comes to change and innovation. We back ambitious founders with a bold vision to change the world and are excited to support Wazoku in this next stage of their growth.”