Sharpist raises $23 million Series A funding round to accelerate European expansion

• In times of significant growth, Sharpist raises a $23 million Series A funding round, underscoring the great importance of the learning and development market
• The round was co-led by Endeit Capital and Capnamic, joined by selected business angels, Founders Future, and Porsche Ventures as well as by existing investors Vorwerk Ventures and btov Partners
• The fresh capital will enable Sharpist to further invest in its industry-defining product experience and accelerates the company’s European expansion

Berlin, London, 15.02.2022 – Sharpist, a leading digital coaching provider, today announced the completion of a $23 million Series A funding round. The Series A was co-led by Endeit Capital and Capnamic with participation from selected business angels, including the former VP of Workplace at Meta Julien Codorniou, French venture studio Founders Future, and Porsche Ventures, the venture capital unit of Sharpist’s customer Porsche AG, and existing investors Vorwerk Ventures and btov Partners. The funding comes at a time of significant growth for Sharpist: It will help fuel the company’s mission to drive the growth of organizations and their people through digital coaching and personalized learning journeys.  

The company capitalizes on the fast-growing $300bn+ corporate learning and development market, which is further accelerated by the war for talent. Sharpist provides companies with personal business coaches from an international network of certified coaches via its mobile and web app, supplemented with personalized learning content. With an unrivaled learner engagement of more than 90%, the dedication to customer experience is a crucial element to Sharpist’s success: Since its launch in 2018, Sharpist has grown steadily, organically evolving into a market leader in digital coaching. Enterprise clients rely on Sharpist to retain and grow their talent, including STRABAG, Franke, and Otto Group. In Q4 2021, Zalando, Metro, and BASF joined the impressive customer roster.

Sharpist plans to double the size of its 100-people strong team in 2022, cementing its position as a leader in the digital coaching market. With the fresh capital, Sharpist will accelerate growth across Europe and product development with a focus on product experience. Additionally, the company plans to expand to new markets, including the UK and Ireland, opening a branch in London in the coming months.

Hendrik Schriefer, CEO and Co-Founder of Sharpist: “The fresh capital allows us to further invest in our industry-defining product experience and gradually position Sharpist as the market leader for digital coaching in Europe. We plan to bring our leading coaching and people development experience to other promising regions, starting with the UK and Ireland. We are excited to partner with our new investors Endeit Capital, Capnamic, and Porsche Ventures on our mission to become the leading platform for career and people development - we will substantially benefit from their vast experience in building strong, multi-national leaders.”

Martijn Hamann,  Co-Owner and Partner at Endeit Capital: “By supporting Sharpist, we are further executing our belief in Intelligent Empowerment. Sharpist is a prime example as it connects the next generation workforce with selected and certificated coaches through their data-driven platform. In the $300bn+ corporate learning and development market, we see an untapped market for digital coaching. We are excited to support a strong and innovative European tech scale up driving Employee Empowerment, Leadership Development and Organizational Transformation.”

Jörg Binnenbrücker, Managing Partner at Capnamic: “I firmly believe that the edtech sector is one of the most promising areas for growth. Innovative ways of teaching and coaching remotely, like Sharpist is providing through its digital and highly personalized one-on-one approach, are fundamentally changing how we learn and grow. Sharpist is clearly leading the space and has become the trusted provider of many of DACH’s largest enterprises. We are excited and look forward to supporting Hendrik and Fabian in building on their existing success.”

Patrick Huke, Head of Porsche Ventures Europe and Israel: “New Work is a global megatrend and is being further accelerated by the digital transformation we are currently going through. The unique solution from Sharpist helps companies worldwide to meet these new requirements and to be able to increase their employer attractiveness by offering each of their employees a tailor-made, high-quality and personal coaching that can be scaled internationally.”

About Sharpist

Sharpist is a results-oriented, digital coaching provider with the mission to drive the growth of organizations and their people through 1:1 digital coaching and personalized learning journeys. Learners in organizations from more than 30 countries worldwide meet their personal business coach from an international network of certified coaches via the Sharpist’s mobile or web app. For ideal learning success, the coaching is supplemented with personalized learning content. Founded in 2018 by Hendrik Schriefer and Fabian Niedballa, Sharpist now employs close to 100 people and has offices in Berlin and Munich. For more information visit www.sharpist.com.

About Endeit Capital

Endeit Capital is a growth capital firm fueling internationalization and innovation since 2006.With local Partner teams in the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden, Endeit specializes inboosting European tech scale-ups that have outgrown the start-up phase. Endeit and itscommunity of entrepreneurs and experts supports these companies with capital andmanagement guidance to reach maturity. Some investments are for example Albelli, 3DHubs,Contorion, Gastrofix, Comtravo, Chronext and TourRadar. Endeit’s Partners draw on their broadoperational experience in branding and internationalization, especially via buy & build. Endeithas over the years raised a total of half a billion euro in investment capital. For moreinformation, please visit: https://endeit.com

About Capnamic

Capnamic is a leading European early-stage Venture Capital firm, with oces in Cologne, Berlin andMunich. The VC invests in outstanding teams from the German-speaking regions from Pre-Seed upto Series A. Capnamic’s investments include companies such as LeanIX, Stabase, Adjust (exit toApplovin) parcelLab or Capmo, amongst others. All portfolio companies can rely on Capnamic’sunique network of global investors and industry partners as well as hands-on support, mentoringand knowledge exchange. The vast expertise of the Capnamic team includes more than 100investments, a high turnover of successful trade sales and IPOs, as well as a strong entrepreneurialtrack record within the investment team. The general partners are Christian Siegele, Christian Knott,Jörg Binnenbrücker and Olaf Jacobi.

More information about Capnamic Ventures is available at: www.capnamic.com

About Porsche Ventures

Porsche Ventures is the venture capital unit of Porsche AG and has oces in Stuttgart, Berlin, TelAviv, Palo Alto and Shanghai. It invests in innovative technology and business models around the world. Porsche has been active on the start-up scene since 2016 and has built a diverse start-upecosystem in order to work with new, innovative companies.
In addition to Porsche Ventures, the Porsche ecosystem includes the technology and digital unitPorsche Digital, the company builder Forward 31 and the early-stage investor APX, a joint venturewith Axel Springer SE. The goal of this start-up ecosystem is to oer the right contact for any teamof founders – no matter what stage of development their start-up is in.

More information about Porsche Ventures is available at: www.porsche.ventures

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