Deskbird on board - Why we invested

Our Chief Remote Officer’s favourite tool — Our investment in Deskbird

Although we are still waiting to see the longer-term impact of Covid that caused the world to shut down almost 2.5 years, it is already clear that it changed the way we work. During the first wave of the pandemic, we learned to work remotely. In fact, both employees and employers realised that work can be done efficiently basically from anywhere in the world. New solutions to support the new way of work emerged and employers picked up the pace. They are ready to further digitalize HR processes to meet employee expectations. Now with energy prices fluctuating and employees remaining reluctant to return to or regularly visit the office, enterprises start to face new challenges.

Several studies showed that during Covid those organization that kept their employees connected achieved higher productivity. After all the office was not just a space to work from but also a place to socialize. Keeping this social element, employee attrition, and the intention to preserve company culture in sight, enterprises have started to lure employees back to the office. Rather unsuccessfully, I might add, with global office utilization below 30%, and employees going to the office less than 2 times a week on average. Employees made the statement; companies need to meet them halfway. To satisfy employee expectations companies seem to start accepting hybrid work as the new norm.

With less than half of the workforce in the office at any given time on average, executives are putting more emphasis on office utilization. Additionally, increasing energy prices further elevated the pressure on companies to manage office space and costs more efficiently. We’ve seen employers become divided into two large groups. Those that have downsized the office already and have less workstations than employees and those that are looking to do so but need insights on how to reduce the office space efficiently. To avoid the chaos, both type of companies will need adequate solutions to manage collaboration in the hybrid era.

Enter Deskbird

While looking for the best solution to manage a hybrid workplace, we spoke with our friends at OTP LAB, who also have identified the exact same need coming from the various OTP Group members in Europe under the umbrella of the OTP Startup Booster Program. OTP Ukraine’s need to effectively manage their hybrid workforce and office assets were particularly pressing and they recommended Deskbird as a solution that is very easy to integrate and team members love to use. Taking a closer look, we were immediately blown away by this remote-first Swiss-team’s intuitive and user-centric platform.

Deskbird is developing an integrated and easy-to-use workplace management solution that allows greater workplace flexibility, helps optimize office footprint, and solves the coordination challenges of hybrid workplaces. The solution enables employees to book desks, meeting rooms and parking slots while through the interactive floor maps they can see where their colleagues will be working from and on which days so they can schedule their week accordingly. One aspect that makes Deskbird really stand out is their focus on employee experience. We have spoken with several clients, and they all highlighted the quick adoption among employees that made them sign up for the service on the long run.

Besides providing a welcoming interface for team members, Deskbird also gives valuable insights to employers on office consumption, occupancy, while also providing recommendations on how to optimize their office setup. With Deskbird’s booking and scheduling data, companies can identify occupancy patterns and dynamically adjust the bookable desks or close down areas to manage the existing office space more efficiently. By acting on Deskbird’s insights, a 1000-FTE company could save up to 2 million euros a year in office costs only. The solution is deeply integrated with enterprise HR and collaboration tools thus after a quick set up employees can access all the functions through platforms familiar to them (i.e., MS Teams, Slack etc.).

This sounds very straightforward and given the company’s current 20% MoM ARR growth, one would think Ivan and Jonas, Deskbird’s ex-BCG founders, have it all figured out from the beginning. However, it was not the case. The company originally aimed to become a marketplace for co-working spaces. But initial traction was slow, and the team went back to the drawing board. They have analysed customer feedback, conducted market research, and eventually decided to pivot into a workspace management SaaS for the emerging hybrid workplace model.

This seems to be working, as large organizations from ThyssenKrupp to KFC are signing up and expanding the service among their multiple locations worldwide. With their newly found product market fit and impressive growth, the team that has leveraged the BCG network both in terms of hiring and business development, is now able to recruit top talent across Europe and quickly grew over 60 people in size.

Clearly, this is an execution game and Ivan and Jonas’ structured approach, their ability to adapt quickly to market reality and take bold decisions resonated very well with us. We love their enthusiasm and are excited to partner with them alongside Session.vc, Rivus Capital and Fortyone to help them build the new global standard for modern workspaces with the first workspace management solution that solves the hybrid work challenges of both employees and corporate real estate managers.