The Venture Codex

Participated · Series C · Sep 2021

Frontify is a brand-management platform that centralizes brand assets, guidelines and collaboration to ensure consistent brand experiences across communication channels. Built for remote collaboration, the software helped guide customers through end-to-end digital experiences and saw demand accelerate during the pandemic. The company has onboarded approximately 300 new globally distributed brands. Founded in 2013 and based in St. Gallen, Frontify positions itself as a single source of truth for employees and collaborators. The $50 million injection is earmarked to further develop Frontify’s technology and to support a recruitment drive with significant expansion planned in the U.S. The article cites investors’ confidence in the team and strong, efficient revenue growth, though no specific financials or valuation were disclosed. Frontify provides a comprehensive brand management platform that centralizes brand assets, guidelines, and workflows to maximize consistency, efficiency, and involvement. The company serves over 2,500 customers worldwide, including Facebook, Dyson, Centrica, Lufthansa, Vodafone, and Allianz. Led by founder and CEO Roger Dudler, Frontify employs 120+ people across St. Gallen, Switzerland and New York, USA. In January 2020 the company raised $22.3m in a Series B to support growth. Frontify intends to use the funds for global expansion—particularly across North America and Europe—and continued product innovation. The platform’s focus is on enabling customers to manage their brands centrally and at scale. Frontify, founded in 2013 and headquartered in St. Gallen, is a Software-as-a-Service brand management platform that offers an always up-to-date brand portal, media library, pattern library, style guides, a workspace, and publishing capabilities. The product is targeted primarily at marketing and branding teams but is built to include designers and software engineers so cross-functional teams can collaborate on branded content. Its five main features are online Style Guides, a UI Pattern Library, Digital Asset Management, a Workspace for collaboration, and browser-based Publishing templates. Frontify claims several hundred enterprise customers, including Lufthansa, IBM, Allianz, Vodafone, and Deliveroo, and partners with agencies such as Interbrand, Sapient, Bold, and Praekelt. The company positions itself as an alternative to static PDF guidelines and standalone DAMs by enabling organization-wide brand consistency across channels. Frontify plans to use new funding to expand its product suite and grow internationally, including opening a New York office and pushing into Benelux, Northern Europe, Latin America, Spain, and France; its largest markets to date are the U.S., U.K., Germany, and Switzerland.

Participated · Equity · Sep 2017

Sendtask is built by SIRLOIN AG, founded in early 2017 by serial founder Cédric Waldburger. The core product is a task manager that lets tasks be sent, managed and organized while recipients need no accounts, simplifying sharing with employees, customers and partners. The service is available as an iOS app and via web browser on desktop and mobile at https://sendtask.io. Waldburger says the product will use artificial intelligence to capture tasks faster, automatically prioritize them correctly and make them easier to complete. Four months after launch the company closed a financing round of CHF 0.5 million from smart-money backers including angel Thomas Dübendorfer and Tenderloin Ventures. SIRLOIN operates remotely with seven employees spread across Scotland, Macedonia, Armenia, Russia, Bulgaria, Hungary and Switzerland and is domiciled in Rapperswil, Switzerland.