SAN FRANCISCO, CA – February 25th, 2021 – BetterUp, the first company to democratize coaching across the enterprise, announced today a $125 million Series D fundraise, bringing the company’s valuation to $1.73 billion. The global leader in mobile-based coaching, counseling, and mentorship, BetterUp is an all-in-one platform that combines behavioral science, AI technology, and human interaction to optimize personal growth and professional development in support of a person's whole health, at work and in life.
This latest financing was led by ICONIQ Growth with participation by existing investors, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Threshold Ventures, and Plus Capital, and by new investors, Salesforce Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, and Mubadala Capital.
With eight years of data in the employee development and coaching space, BetterUp has proven that individual performance and organizational growth begins with company leadership taking a proactive and holistic approach to the health, happiness, and resilience of their employees. Since its founding in 2013, BetterUp has built the world’s largest coaching network of over 2,000 coaches, has grown its team to 270+ employees, and serves more than 300 enterprise businesses including Hilton, NASA, Chevron, Mars, Genentech, Snap Inc., and Warner Media. In the past year, BetterUp more than doubled its annual recurring revenue, grew its entire customer base by 80 percent, and recorded a net revenue retention rate of over 140%. BetterUp has served over 100,000 members to-date, and the number of coaching sessions has more than doubled year-over-year, as demand for investing in employee well-being and development grew significantly.
This funding will accelerate BetterUp’s innovation roadmap and continue to fuel new products, the latest of which is BetterUp Care™, an integrated mental fitness offering that includes enterprise-wide access to coaching with behavioral health specialists, curated content, on-demand support, parenting specialists, nutrition specialists, sleep specialists, group coaching, and digital learning. With a total of $300 million in venture financing and based on years of data collected from its coaching experiences, BetterUp is positioned to provide the most comprehensive and personalized employee experience that drives not only well-being, but also growth and peak performance.
“Since the very beginning, BetterUp has designed and built our products around the whole person — the vital intersection of well-being and human performance,” said Alexi Robichaux, CEO and co-founder of BetterUp. "By investing in their employees’ growth, our customers have seen measurable behavior change in their cultures and significant outcomes across their businesses. With the addition of Care, we can extend this impact to organizations who recognize mental fitness as the biggest lever in helping people thrive through change. We’re excited to partner with progressive companies to supercharge their entire workforce, from whole person to whole organization.”
BetterUp Care™ helps employees not only adapt and problem solve when faced with change and uncertainty, but also thrive in their personal and professional lives. BetterUp has found that a combination of coaching, counseling, and mental health support improves psychological and emotional health, leading to a 77% reduction in stress, 35% decrease in burnout, 75% increase in improved nutrition, and enhances sleep habits and feelings of rest by 2.4x, which in turn enhances cognitive and emotional function. This proactive and long-term approach to individual growth also leads to enterprise-wide impact, as organizations that grew the most in resilience, saw 3x higher year-over-year revenue growth.
“As the pioneer and global leader of professional coaching at scale, BetterUp provides the most comprehensive platform for human growth that meets the full spectrum of needs for enterprises of all sizes,” said Doug Pepper, General Partner at ICONIQ Growth. “With the category’s most experienced team and advanced platform informed by years of data, BetterUp uniquely connects individual growth to organizational performance, helping advance the development and well-being of companies and their cultures.”
BetterUp is built on a foundation of leading-edge AI technology, coaching innovation, and science-based practices that enable customers to scale personalized development and care company-wide.
“As companies continue to work from home, the role of the manager has grown considerably. They’re no longer just responsible for work and productivity — they’re also keeping company culture alive and serving as a lifeline to employees as they navigate the challenges of remote work,” said Angela McKenna, Senior Vice President of Talent Experience at Salesforce. “We've worked with BetterUp for more than three years to help cultivate our future leaders. Their partnership has been particularly important over the past year in supporting our managers during this time of tremendous change – and helping their teams thrive.”
BetterUp’s Science Board is backed by leading researchers across the fields of positive psychology and human performance, including Adam Grant, Martin Seligman, Shawn Achor, Josh Bersin, Robin Ely, and Quinetta Roberson.
About BetterUp
Founded in 2013, BetterUp is the global leader in mobile-based professional coaching, counseling, and mentorship. BetterUp combines world-class coaching with AI technology and behavioral science to deliver personalized behavior change at scale, improving the well-being, adaptability, and effectiveness of the workforce. With a network of over 2,000 coaches, BetterUp offers coaching in 49 languages across 66 countries, along with interactive professional development content, analytics and real-time insights to track employee progress. Used by more than 300 companies, including leading Fortune 1,000 companies, BetterUp drives transformational and lasting behavior change, resulting in improved business outcomes across organizations and inspires professionals everywhere to pursue their lives with greater clarity, purpose, and passion. Additional investors in the company include Freestyle Capital, Crosslink Capital, Tenaya Capital, NBA All-Star Pau Gasol, and Olympic gold-medalist Shaun White. To learn more, visit www.betterup.com.
Media contact:
Libbey Baumgarten
Libbey@jenniferbett.com
