Berlin-based Wonderwerk trains a new generation of remote-first sales teams with $2.5M seed funding

Wonderwerk has raised $2.5M seed funding to help sales teams enter the remote age with its data-driven sales training and performance tracking tools.

Funding comes from new investor Sparkmind.vc* and startup studio Founders*, with participation from Black Pearls VC* and Spring Capital. The company is hiring rapidly and will use the funding to fuel expansion to the US, ramp up data analytics and grow its sales and marketing teams.

*Sparkmind.vc is the first Nordic venture capital company exclusively focused on the learning sector. The company invests from Seed to Series B stages in teams transforming how the world learns. Its investments are focused on solutions that improve e-learning outcomes, increase access to and efficiency of learning, or use data insight to better support educators and learners.‍

*Founders is a startup studio based in Copenhagen. Together with exceptional entrepreneurs, we build companies from scratch and scale them as independent companies when they gain traction. We get excited about products with the potential to radically improve how people and organisations work.

*Black Pearls VC is an early-stage venture capital firm focused on supporting the leading tech companies from Northern & Central Europe. It invests from pre-seed to Series A with a typical ticket of anywhere between €100k – €1m. Black Pearls VC is a part of the Kauffman Fellows, a global network of +700 leading VCs.

Wonderwerk’s vision is to give every salesperson the greatest chance of success. Globally, companies spend an estimated $30bn each year on sales training even though 90% of it doesn’t work. This inefficiency has led to a crisis in the industry with an estimated 30m salespeople missing critical skills and up to 55% employee turnover.

We still see way too many companies burning and churning their sales reps. When things aren’t working out, they blame the people rather than taking responsibility for their own training processes. What most companies still don’t understand is the huge amount of money they lose every time a salesperson leaves.

Wonderwerk co-founder and CEO Bowen Moody.

These issues have only been compounded during the pandemic, where many salespeople were forced to work remotely for the first time. As covid rebounds and a shortage of local salespeople drives more companies to hire and onboard remotely, this is simply the new normal to which businesses are adapting. Wonderwerk revenues have quadrupled in the past year as companies invest in building remote-first sales teams.

Wonderwerk is the first company in the world to measure the impact of training on revenue. By integrating with its customers’ CRM, Wonderwerk can see how effective its sales training programs are at reducing ramp time and increasing conversion rates. For the first time ever, companies can see what part of their training isn’t working so it gets better every time. Its customers are fast-growing tech companies that are rapidly expanding their sales teams and need an efficient tool to onboard and upskill their sales teams.

Wonderwerk is a great example of digital transformation in the corporate learning segment. By easily equipping salespeople with the skills they need, the company is capitalizing on this multi-billion, yet widely neglected opportunity. I very much look forward to our journey together and working with the team as a board member.

Sparkmind.vc partner Vesa Laakso

Its customers have seen some impressive results. For example, Virtuagym was able to reduce ramp time by 50% while Babbel increased its conversion rates by 40%. These changes have an immense impact on revenue when multiplied across a large sales team.

Prior to Wonderwerk, its founders Bowen and Rouven Herzog built a platform for self-directed learning. However, they quickly pivoted after realising that to drive real change in corporate learning, they would need to be able to demonstrate a clear ROI to companies.

Building a remote-first sales team presents a new set of challenges to every organization adapting to a new reality we are in, with onboarding and upskilling being areas that many companies struggle with specifically.

Wonderwerk’s product gives organizations a much-needed set of tools that allows them to measure the impact of training on performance, based on actual data.

Bowen and Rouven have built a top-notch product and were successful in bringing an impressive client base early on. We are very excited to be a part of this round and support the company in its journey to become an essential part of every remote-first company’s toolkit.”

Aleksander Dobrzyniecki, Partner at Black Pearls VC.