Berlin-based Sharpist raises €4.6 million

Sharpist, the digital ecosystem for personalized learning & development, today announced that it has raised €4.6 million in seed financing led by Vorwerk Ventures. The financing round was joined by co-investors btov Partners and APX. As part of the investment, Holger Witte, Partner at Vorwerk Ventures, will join Sharpist’s Advisory Board.

The seed financing comes at a time of significant growth and expansion for Sharpist. In the past year, the company has led hundreds of successful pilot implementations at blue-chip enterprises around the world, including Allianz, Porsche, CBRE and others. Sharpist has converted a full 95 percent of its pilots to date into large-scale implementations; as a result, the company achieved 400 percent growth in its active user base in Q4 of 2019 alone. Sharpist’s learner community has lauded the company: Sharpist has achieved an average rating of 4.9 out of 5 stars, and 95 percent of learners agree that they would refer Sharpist to their colleagues.

Holger Witte, Partner at Vorwerk Ventures, said “Today’s workers expect their employer to offer meaningful contributions to their skillset, future professional prospects and sense of career balance. Sharpist is leading the way in facilitating measurable, personalized learning at scale to help top employers deliver on this expectation, and come out ahead in the global War for Talent. We are excited to partner with their passionate and talented leadership team.”

“As the loyalty felt by top talent toward employers has eroded, the global War for Talent has only continued to intensify in recent years,” said Fabian, COO and co-founder of Sharpist. “In the past year, we’ve shown that our personalized learning platform is a proven and scalable remedy for increasing engagement among employees, and gives HR leaders the measurement capabilities they desperately need. In Vorwerk Ventures, we’ve found a partner that shares our vision and ambition, and we’re excited to be entering 2020 with great momentum and optimism about the road ahead.”