LumApps raises $24M Series B for its ‘social intranet’

LumApps, the “social intranet” for the enterprise, has closed $24 million in Series B funding. The round is led by previous backer IdInvest, and will be used to scale LumApps’ global sales and marketing and accelerate product development.

Founded in Paris in 2012 — and now also with offices in London, Tokyo, San Francisco and New York — LumApps has developed a social web-styled intranet for enterprises to let company employees better connect and collaborate.

The solution integrates with both G Suite, Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Sharepoint, and is accessible via mobile. Overall, it is designed to serve as a central hub for personalized content, social communications, work tools and enterprise applications.

“We launched LumApps Social Intranet solution in 2015, after our historical customer Veolia asked us to create a platform based on their needs,” “LumApps founder and CEO Sébastien Ricard tells me. “We quickly realized there was a massive demand for modern intranets from all companies, to transform internal communications and the employee experience”.

That’s because, he says, communication within an enterprise is challenging, spread across disparate tools such as email, live chat, and social networks – solutions that are typically disconnected and siloed. This is especially true in large enterprises, where finding information and reaching the right people can be very difficult.

“Our dream was to enable access to useful information in one click, from one place and for everyone. Just that simple. We wanted to build… a solution that bridged [an] intranet and social network, with the latest new technologies. A place that users will love”.

At its core, Ricard says LumApps goes further than just solving common business challenges, including fostering a collaborative workplace where employees are more engaged and more productive. “Every large company is building their digital workplace, and it’s critical that they have a central intranet that houses all employee communications, news, memos, applications, etc. from the corporate team but also from peers”.

That mission appears to be working, evidenced by today’s Series B funding and a customer base that spans enterprises small and large. Companies using LumApps include Veolia, Valeo, Air Liquide, Colgate-Palmolive, The Economist, Schibsted, EA, and Logitech. The intranet software has on-boarded more than 4 million users globally.

Adds Ricard: “As a French entrepreneur, it has always been a dream to build such a global success,” says Ricard. “We encountered highs and lows, especially in 2016 when we started in the U.S. and lived our first year of setbacks. Why? All we had was our product and we didn’t yet understand the culture and market specifics. It took time to hire American talent to structure everything and build a solid base… Now we have a team of 150-plus people worldwide with a special focus on the U.S.”