Switchboard Turns On $25 Million Series A

<p class&equals;"article-date"><strong>SAN FRANCISCO<&sol;strong> &&num;8212&semi; <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;switchboard&period;app&sol;" rel&equals;"nofollow">Switchboard<&sol;a>&comma; a cloud coworking space&comma; has raised &dollar;25 million in Series A funding led by Icon Ventures&comma; with participation from existing investors Sequoia Capital&comma; XYZ Venture Capital&comma; and Spark Capital&period; The Series A brings Switchboard’s total funding to date to just over &dollar;38M&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"responsiveNews">Switchboard launched publicly into beta in May&comma; and has seen a positive response from users experiencing a new and more effective way to collaborate&period; With the additional funding&comma; Switchboard plans to continue to develop new product features and expand the team with a focus on hiring more engineering&comma; product&comma; and marketing professionals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"responsiveNews">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Our beta launch was so successful because we struck a nerve with the promise of better collaboration&period; People are using Switchboard from all over the world&comma; across different types of organizations&comma; from startups&comma; agencies&comma; higher education and beyond&period;” said Amir Ashkenazi&comma; CEO and founder of Switchboard&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;They recognize current communications tools we have simply aren’t working for what we need in remote and hybrid work environments&period; Switchboard is revolutionizing consumer expectations in remote work&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"responsiveNews">Unlike video conferencing&comma; Switchboard is able to emulate the in-person experience to make remote collaboration just as good as in real life through the following features&colon;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<ul class&equals;"releaseul">&NewLine;<li>Content Focus&colon; During video conferencing&comma; the focus is on faces&comma; and how we present versus the content being discussed&period; Switchboard has the same video and audio functions as video conferencing&comma; but the focus is also on the content being shared and collaborated on in the web-based browser&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Interaction&colon; Switchboard makes you feel like you are working side-by-side&comma; and removes the performative feel of video conferencing&period; Everyone in the room has the same capabilities to join and work together &lpar;at the same time&rpar; in physical web applications like Google Docs or Figma&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Tools&colon; All web-based applications are compatible in Switchboard’s browser space&comma; allowing users to bring their favorite collaboration tools together&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Context&colon; Each room saves all content added during a meeting including browsers&comma; documents&comma; and chat&period; This saves teams time and allows people to pick up where they left off instead of losing everything at the end of a video call&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<li>Communication&colon; Video conferencing calls are usually scheduled&comma; inherently giving them a formal feel&period; Switchboard rooms can be used for scheduled meetings&comma; but they bring the informal feel of an office space by allowing users to pop into rooms for any spontaneous questions or conversations&period;<&sol;li>&NewLine;<&sol;ul>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"responsiveNews">&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;We pride ourselves on partnering with innovative companies that have the potential to be category leaders&comma;” said Jeb Miller&comma; General Partner at Icon Ventures&comma; who will be joining the Company’s Board of Directors&period; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Switchboard is transforming how teams collaborate&period; Whether remote&comma; in person or hybrid&comma; Switchboard’s platform alleviates the struggle of maintaining human connectivity and fosters better teamwork in a distributed workplace&period; Looking at the market&comma; I see the potential for companies of all shapes and sizes to benefit from Switchboard’s superior tools&period; The future of work is here&comma; and we’re so thrilled to be a part of bringing people together for better collaboration on a global level&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"responsiveNews">Switchboard’s original seed round included participation from The General Partnership&comma; Dylan Field &lpar;CEO &amp&semi; Co-founder&comma; Figma&rpar;&comma; Joe Thomas &lpar;CEO&comma; Loom&rpar;&comma; John Lilly &lpar;former CEO&comma; Mozilla&rpar;&comma; Akshay Kothari &lpar;COO&comma; Notion&rpar; and others&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"responsiveNews">&&num;8220&semi;The success of Switchboard&&num;8217&semi;s beta launch clearly validates the strong desire for new&comma; innovative ways to collaborate in our virtual world&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said Mike Vernal&comma; partner at Sequoia Capital&period; &&num;8220&semi;Switchboard&&num;8217&semi;s success is no surprise to us and we are proud to continue our partnership as they make continued strides toward empowering the future of connectivity&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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