Berlin-based Bunch gets $1.5 million seed to give VPs real-time insight into team morale

Bunch, an analytics software for team morale, has raised a $1.5 million seed round from M13, a venture firm in Los Angeles. The Berlin-based startup is one of the first investments from M13’s new $175 million fund backed by Richard Branson and Arianna Huffington. Bunch runs a SaaS platform called Team Analytics, launched this past May, which is designed to give organisations data-based insights into their internal cultures. The AI platform plugs into a company’s Slack public channels and analyses data on team communication, providing overviews of team morale, collaboration, freedom of opinion and more. The company claims these overviews are based on “scientifically valid KPIs” connected team performance, gleaning real-time insight on factors such as psychological safety without administering any employee survey. When users began to organise themselves into online communities to discuss the findings from their own company, the startup decided to support such a community-based initiative within its product offering. Bunch has announced Teams at Work, a “hub for leaders” with the goal of connecting them with relevant peers where they can share best practices for team building and scaling in high-growth companies. In the future, Bunch co-founder and CEO Darja Gutnick believes the company could be a leader in “collaboration intelligence that bridges the gap between state of the art management science and everyday leadership and team practice.” For now, the startup will expand into the US market using the new seed funding.