13 November 2019
By Elaine Murphy
elaine@TheCork.ie
John Goulding & Eric Yuan
Irish internal communication software platform boosted by backing of Zoom founder Eric S. Yuan
Internal communication software company Workvivo has secured significant investment from one of the world’s leading tech entrepreneurs, Eric S. Yuan.
The founder and chief executive of video-first unified communications company Zoom Video Communications, Inc. said the Irish firm’s culture, values and technology were a perfect fit for his vision of employee communication, engagement and satisfaction.
Just two years old, Workvivo is already one of the world’s fastest growing providers of internal communications for companies worldwide. Since 2017, Workvivo is being used to engage employees across 40 countries and in companies of all sizes. Workvivo is based in Cork, Ireland.
Zoom, which Yuan founded in 2011, is NASDAQ-listed (ZM) and has fast become the leading choice for unified communications, growing to over 66,000 customers with more than 10 employees while maintaining an industry-leading net promoter score over 70[PB1] .
The private investment by Yuan will assist Workvivo in its plans to grow users of its unique model of internal communications built for employee engagement to more than one million by 2021.
Workvivo designed their communications platform based on the way people are familiar with interacting outside of the workplace, and brought that into a business context. Employees can read and post content to an activity feed, like, share and comment on content, but they can also recognise others through shout-outs, link posts to company goals and values, create community spaces and publish company articles and events.
Yuan, who has consistently spoken of the importance of employee satisfaction in business growth, said Workvivo’s business model aligns perfectly with the values he used to create Zoom.
“The purpose of life is to pursue happiness, and that should always apply to your work life as well as your personal life. Engaging a workforce and making them feel valued should be a top ambition of any company. Workvivo is making that ambition a reality, and I am delighted to invest in such an innovative company. I believe Workvivo is fast becoming an essential component in the makeup of successful companies as we head into the next decade,” Yuan said.
Co-founder of Workvivo, John Goulding, said backing from one of the world’s great entrepreneurs was testament to what the Irish firm wanted to do around employee engagement.
“Eric’s investment is a hugely significant moment in the Workvivo story. When people feel valued and connected to the organization, they are engaged. In every one of our customers, we see increases in engagement and retention, because those employees feel part of a community and experience that every day. We’re not just a communication tool. We bring community, engagement, enthusiasm, relevance, recognition and fun into employee communication. We’re delighted someone like Eric Yuan recognises that in Workvivo,” Mr Goulding said.
