Contxto – Well, Zoom isn’t the only digital tool that’s prospered as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Argentine startup MURAL met its yearly goals by June of 2020. But that’s not all. Today (25), the enterprise startup announced it closed a US$118 million investment for its Series B via Insight Venture Partners.
Other round participants include Tiger Global, Slack Fund, World Innovation Lab, as well as returning investor, Gradient Ventures.
Interestingly, it had already raised US$23 million last January. So, the fact that it’s closed another, much larger round so soon hints that it’s been faring well in recent months and has some big growth plans ahead.
MURAL also shared its upcoming plans in a blog post. On its “To Do List” is to improve its product and overall customer experience (CX). It also intends to deepen its community engagement.
To achieve these feats the startup plans to hire 80 new staff members throughout the remainder of the year.
What makes MURAL different
MURAL offers a virtual board for teams—regardless of their location—to develop their projects. Now, what makes it different from your typical Trello or monotonous Microsoft Planner?
“Today, when people think “remote,” they think video calls, chat, and email. Something’s missing—and it’s imagination. When you connect and collaborate visually, you create new possibilities. You combine ideas, concepts, and pictures in new ways,” says Mariano Suarez-Battan, co-Founder and CEO at MURAL.
Through the startup, teams can play with digital sticky notes, videos, images, and organize ideas. Ultimately, MURAL is all about letting those creative juices flow to build projects and content, no matter the distance.
MURAL and remote work
I’m keen to believe that remote work (or at least a more hybrid approach) is here to stay. The coronavirus pandemic forced employees to stay at home and now companies will likely face an uphill battle to make them return to the office.
Within this context, things went from good to great for MURAL.
In 2019, the startup had reported a positive cash-flow for most of the year. It then launched into 2020 with its Series A. Then came Covid-19.
While the startup did not disclose the total number of users it’s gathered throughout 2020, it’s reported to have added “over a million” monthly active users.
Undoubtedly many companies everywhere are adopting remote work and hiring employees from every corner of the planet.
And it’s a market opportunity MURAL and its investors are eager to milk as much as possible with a slick product and a perfected customer experience.
Related articles: Tech and startups from Argentina!
-ML