ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bonfyre, a private social communication platform helping companies engage employees and align culture, announced today the closing of $4 million in funding. The investment, led by Arsenal Capital Management, will be used to grow the sales team, deepen technical expertise and improve customer support for the company’s growing roster of clients. This investment follows the completion of a $2.45 million funding round, also led by Arsenal, which closed January 2016.
“Our second investment reflects our belief that Bonfyre has developed a platform through which a company can engage and communicate with their employees to build and maintain a strong workplace culture. The market acceptance and product development since our initial investment have been impressive and we look forward to continuing our partnership with the outstanding team at Bonfyre,” said Pete Reinecke, Managing Director of Arsenal Capital Management.
Along with the round of funding, Bonfyre announced that Dan Geraty, CEO of Clearent, has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Geraty brings to the team an extensive background in working with start-ups, and has led Clearent to be one of St. Louis’ top five fastest growing companies for the past three years.
Bonfyre has grown rapidly since their inception in 2012, and counts Marriott, Commerce Bank and Express Scripts as part of a growing list of clients that includes nine Fortune 500 companies. Building from corporate events, Bonfyre has continued to develop a broad range of unique tools focused on strengthening relationships and building communities of engaged employees.
“For nearly 20 years, employee engagement has remained stagnant at 30 percent and costs US companies an estimated $450-$550 billion annually. Relationships are at the heart of a highly engaged workforce, and Bonfyre’s communication technology adds a personal, human touch to the workplace and helps facilitate the relationships that make people excited about where they work and what they do,” said Mark Sawyier, CEO and co-founder of Bonfyre. “This investment allows us to bring Bonfyre’s solution to more companies to further demonstrate the positive impact an engaged workforce can have on employees and business goals.”
Designed with the employee in mind, the Bonfyre app is intuitive, easy to use and private. Every employee can post and share photos with each other, as well as interact with their employer through surveys, quizzes, trivia and over two dozen other advanced features. This unique focus on employee experience helps Bonfyre deliver an average adoption rate of more than 70% amongst employees.
“People who feel connected and a sense of belonging in their job are happier and more productive at work,” said Chris Dornfeld, president and co-founder of Bonfyre. “This investment will support Bonfyre’s ability to continue to grow our exceptional team, add revolutionary features and help our clients engage each unique employee- regardless of location.”
About Bonfyre
Bonfyre is a private social communication platform that helps companies engage employees and align culture. Premium features support internal communications, recognition, engagement campaigns, collaboration, and workplace satisfaction across teams and locations. The familiar social “feed” design and cloud-based architecture leads to significantly higher adoption and engagement rates than other solutions. Bonfyre's powerful analytics engine and survey features create a new kind of real-time HR business intelligence, helping companies better evaluate and invest in their employee programs wisely.
For more information on Bonfyre, please visit www.BonfyreApp.com and www.Twitter.com/BonfyreApp.
