Storyboard, the enterprise podcast and audio platform, today announced the closing of $4.5 million in seed funding led by CRV, which is known for investing at the earliest stage of high-growth companies like Airtable, DoorDash, Twitter and Zendesk. The funding also includes participation from Harry Stebbings of 20MinuteVC, Operator Partners, Slack Fund, Dave Ambrose, and Matt Ziskie. The company will use the new capital to accelerate its rapid growth, develop its audio platform, and to continue building out Storyboard’s talented team.
Storyboard is transforming how teams collaborate and engage through the creation of internal audio content. In its first year, over 1,700 companies around the world, including Delta Air Lines, DHL, HelloFresh and many others, launched channels on Storyboard. Companies are providing corporate updates, distributing coaching and training materials, sharing goals and OKRs, and engaging remote team members via the Storyboard platform.
“In a world where distributed teams are fast becoming the standard, companies are looking for new ways to engage employees and help them collaborate across time zones and distances,” said JP Gooderham, Founder of Storyboard. “Audio captures the voices, personalities and heart of a company. It’s significantly easier to produce and far less taxing to consume than video, which makes it an effective way to keep employees engaged without requiring them to spend more time staring at their screens.”
Like podcasting, Storyboard enables creators within a company—executives, managers, or employees—to record and launch on-demand audio content that can be accessed from anywhere and at any time. These channels can reach hundreds and thousands of employees at once or on-demand, and employees can engage with the content minutes or days after it’s released.
“As consumers, we’ve been immersed in the world of podcasts in our personal lives for years, but there hasn’t been a direct analog for enterprises to engage with audio, other than the old school conference call,” says Anna Khan, General Partner at CRV. “JP and the Storyboard team have demonstrated the power of audio in the enterprise—surfacing yet another way we are witnessing the consumerization of our enterprise tools and workflow. Podcasts provide a more intimate and effective way to communicate with a distributed workforce at an enterprise scale—whether you’re a fast growing startup or a large airline company like Delta Air Lines. CRV has a long track record in identifying high-growth, early-stage startups that will transform the enterprise, and Storyboard is one of those companies.”
Companies have full control over the platform and employees are free to listen to important company updates or training sessions at their convenience, whether they’re commuting into an office or walking around their neighborhood. This is a vastly different experience from email, which often has low engagement, and video conferencing, which is typically time dependent. Storyboard also allows text and voice comments within the platform, creating an engaging experience for the organization.
Storyboard provides all the production tools needed to record, edit, share and refine content all in one place. Users can access content on iPhones, Android devices, and the web through Storyboard’s apps. Enterprises can trust their content on Storyboard as employees access through Single Sign On including services like Google gSuite, SAML, Microsoft Azure, and others.
About Storyboard
Founded in November 2019, Storyboard is a platform for companies and organizations to share audio internally. The platform enables enterprises to create podcasts where employees can listen and engage with content on-demand, including trainings, town halls, culture updates, and more. Storyboard is available on iOS and Google Play. For more information, or to try Storyboard for up to 50 listeners for free, visit: https://trystoryboard.com/choose_plan.
About CRV
CRV is an early-stage venture capital firm that backs extraordinary entrepreneurs. DoorDash, Twitter, Zendesk, Airtable, Patreon, Cybereason, Drift, Kong and Iterable are all part of CRV’s portfolio. The firm has invested in over 400 startups across the enterprise, consumer and biotech spaces, often at their earliest and most crucial stages. Founders rely on the CRV team as true partners who are there beside them through thick and thin. Established in 1970, CRV is one of the longest running venture capital firms in the world. Learn more about CRV and the companies shaping the future at https://www.crv.com.
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