NIn recent news, Newark-based 1Huddle, which was included in the original group of the Newark Venture Partners accelerator in 2015, received a significant investment from Chicago-based EMERGING Fund to expand its restaurant sector. I received it.
Although numbers were not disclosed, 1Huddle founder and CEO Sam Couch said the investment is significant because the EMERGING Fund is a new fund that invests in early-stage concepts and innovative technology companies in the restaurant industry. He said that. Restaurant talent development is a key area where 1Huddle has had great success.
1Huddle has made a name for itself by gamifying workforce development with science-backed, quick-burst mobile games. Workers literally play games on their phones to learn what their employers need them to learn. This works well on the restaurant industry front, as turnover is high and employees need to be replaced all the time. This is also having an effect on the post-COVID-19 restaurant industry, which needs to develop a workforce that grows with and stays with industry brands, he said.
Kaucci explained that 1Huddle was doing very well before COVID-19. We were getting into different areas. And we were building and improving the product. When the coronavirus outbreak occurred, it had a direct impact on us. ”
He continued: “In moving to Newark, working in Newark, and working with Don (Katz) and Audible and Newark Venture Partners, we are committed to working with workers around the world who are left out of the equation in times of need. We've been committed to a large portion of the American workforce. From talent development to talent development. Frontline workers make up to 80% of the U.S. workforce. This makes up a large portion of retail restaurant hospitality. . They're workers who don't have one job, they have two or three jobs at a time. And when COVID-19 hit, because they were affected, so were we. I received it.”
Just before COVID-19, 1Huddle raised Series A funding led by New York-based Tribeca Venture Partners. We also moved into our new headquarters at 550 Broad Street in Newark.
The current round of funding was completed by multiple investors.
Now, on the other side of COVID-19, “We've focused more on the front-line restaurant hospitality employee use case. This is an important and powerful tool for this category of employees. Because we feel very passionately that it's a solution.' And we've had success there as well,'' Kaucci said.
“We have grown 3.5x in the Hospitality Restaurant category over the past 24 months, and we just completed our biggest gameplay quarter ever in Q1 across all metrics, including games created and people playing games. We are still not back to full strength, with recent employment statistics showing that hospitality and leisure are the most understaffed sectors. Leisure and hospitality still has 349,000 workers. It is decreasing and represents 2% of the total number of workers before the pandemic. Therefore, at this stage of growth, the product-market fit in this category is completely isolated.”
Caucci said he was introduced to the EMERGING Fund by a current restaurant customer who loves 1Huddle's products and also happens to be an investor in the EMERGING Fund. He explained that EMERGING Fund is more like a strategic investor.
“They work, live and play within the hospitality space of a restaurant,” he said.
It's a tough market to raise traditional venture capital right now, especially for companies with enterprise products, Caucci said.
“Over the past 24 months, we have had to adhere to a number of metrics that were sometimes outside of our control. Seeing the challenges arising from traditional ventures made us want to be a little more strategic. ” he added.
“We feel very good about the VCs around 1Huddle, whether it’s Tribeca Venture Partners or Newark Venture Partners. But what we really wanted to add to the mix was a real-world player in the restaurant hospitality space. These were investors with experience, because that's an area we're deep into right now. We couldn't have asked for a better outcome than to have investors with real domain experience participate in this round. NRD Capita already hasI I have experience serving customers at a restaurant (based in Atlanta). So it's important that we add more people to our board who can make sure we're making the strategically right decisions and choices as we grow. ”
Kaucci concluded by saying that funding will continue to become more difficult for most startups. He said other startups should strategically pursue VCs who “understand their category and can provide domain experience, rather than just looking for investors to fund their balance sheets.” Ta.
He also wanted NJTech Weekly.com to know about the company's commitment to Newark. 1Huddle was recently honored as a Beacon of Hope by Newark's Covenant His House at an event at his New Jersey Performing Arts Center.
“It’s part of our culture for our employees to make time to be active in their communities,” he said. “We're proud to be where we are. And I say to founders who joined us through Newark Venture Partners or who are looking for a new job, 'Newark Venture Partners is very We always say, “It's a great community, but you need to be committed to it.''
“We hired about three to four people from Newark during this round of funding. (1Huddle has 16 employees, 15 of whom work at our Newark headquarters every day.) We're committed to hiring in and investing in our communities. And it's not easy. Easier said than done, but harder to do because when you hire recruiters, where are they coming from? Because we want to hire people who know, and we want everything to be remote. When we hire engineers, they want the same thing. And we… We will remain true to the values of where we are heading. We will build Newark first because Newark has given us so much.”
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Visit 1Huddle at 1huddle.co or call 646-926-1942.
