A startup that launched last year to provide companies with corporate learning and employee engagement tools has raised $3.2 million from investors in a seed funding round.
The funding round for the St. Louis-based startup, Whistle, was led by Dundee Venture Capital. Dundee is based in Omaha, Nebraska, and has an office in St. Louis. Chicago-based venture firm M25 also participated in Whistle’s financing round.
"Whistle has an experienced team, a clear vision, a plan for growth and the team is executing well – the key elements we look for when investing in an early-stage company. We are really excited about Whistle's momentum," said Ron Watson, partner at Dundee.
Whistle, co-founded by CEO Drew Carter and President Chris Dornfeld, describes itself as an “employee experience platform” with technology to help businesses with employee onboarding, engagement, management and retention. It released the beta version of its initial two products in 2021: Whistle Microlearning, which the startup says helps companies with tasks like onboarding and training, and a data product called Whistle Insights. It says it's also developed a payments system designed to streamline how companies reward and incentivize employees.
Carter and Dornfeld said their decision to raise seed funding will allow Whistle to expand its product development and sales operations, helping it more easily and quickly penetrate the market.
“Employee retention is a big problem for a lot of companies right now and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. The capability we’ve built in the market really helps them rethink onboarding, how they can reward and incentivize through our payments technology,” Dornfeld said. “I think that’s part of what’s pulling us into the market, maybe a little faster than we thought. We’re timing well with some pretty big challenges businesses face that we can really move the needle on and demonstrate that value.”
Carter said the Whistle has so far exceeded his expectations in terms of revenue, product development and client adoption.
“We’ve achieved more in a shorter period than any company I’ve been a part of in the past,” Carter said.
Clients of the company included Morton Grove, Illinois-based pet care company FetchFind as well as local firms Kennelwood Pet Resorts and Duke Manufacturing.
Carter and Dornfeld launched the company after having worked as president and chief operating officer, respectively, at Maritz Motivation Solutions, a provider of incentive programs to companies and part of Fenton-based Maritz Holdings. Prior to Martiz, Carter was managing director at consulting firm AlixPartners. Dornfeld is a co-founder and former president of St. Louis software startup Bonfyre.
Whistle has 16 employees.
