Seed Funds for Remote Worker Experience Platform Kona

San Francisco-based remote worker experience platform Kona (previously known as Sike Insights) has raised $4m in a seed round of funding, which it will use to continue to build out its solution.

Kona is used by remote teams to improve engagement, management, culture, and employee well-being through real-time alerts related to employee mental health. The solution appears in an employee's day-to-day Slack solution, which is used for improving collaboration and communication in the workplace. This is in the form of a cartoon dog which asks employees how they're feeling, and employees can respond by selecting a color and emoji that corresponds with their mood, and then provide more information relating to why they feel a specific way.

Managers use the platform to conduct daily emotional check-ins, allowing them to immediately identify and mitigate instances of burnout. The firm says that through its platform, companies can obtain nuanced, real-time data and analytics about why burnout trends occur, and these can be used to build culture, to take action to prevent attrition, and create a psychologically safe team environment.

New funding has been led by Unusual Ventures, with participation from Evolutionary Ventures, 2.12 Angels, Louis Beryl, David Carrico, James Beshara, Amazon exec Jeff Wilke, and more. Sid Pandiya (pictured), CEO and co-founder of Kona, comments: 'Today, employees expect a workplace culture that establishes wellbeing, trust, and belonging. We're proud that Kona has helped more than 200 teams establish people-first cultures. We are building a platform to measure and embed soft skills into every aspect of running a company.'

Web site: www.heykona.com .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.