Denver-based tech company Spekit closed a $12.2 million Series A investment round and expects to double its number of employees to work with clients like Southwest Airlines, Uber Freight and Outreach.io.

Spekit was founded in 2018 by CEO Melanie Fellay and Zari Zahra, head of product and technology. In that time, its customer base has grown from 3,000 users to more than 20,000. Its employee base has doubled to 60, with plans to be in triple digits within a year. And its revenue has grown 400%, though the private company declined to provide specific numbers.

“We’re making learning a new way of how you work,” said Fellay via video interview. “The process of knowledge, training, is to do both your role (job duties) and education. That’s our view of where the world is going. It seems workplace innovation has been forgotten compared to other industries.”

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Series A funding is typically used by start-up companies after its outgrown its seed funding and initial investments. Indeed, fewer than half of seed-funded companies will go on to raise Series A funds as well, according to Investopedia.

“This proves there’s really a growing need out there … and we’re in a unique position to be the market leader,” Fellay said.

Investment leaders included Foundry Group and Renegade Partners. This latest round brings the company’s total fundraising level to $15.7 million. The women-led company also added two female investors to its board, Jaclyn Freeman Hester, Foundry Group partner, and Roseanne Wineck, founder and managing partner of Renegade.

Fellay said the pandemic shutdown that forced workers out of the office to their homes “accelerated the need” for Spekit products, but the change was coming.

“The whole model is flexible and here to stay,” she said. “We’ve seen a decreasing job tenure in the last 20 years, so employers’ ability to get employees up to speed faster is key. So is getting them the answer they need right when they need it since they can’t turn to a co-worker in the office and ask a question.”

As opposed to relying on power point presentations for training, Spekit quickly presents resources and training in real-time across any application a team is using. 

“The solution became so clear,” she said. “Of course, learning should be integrated into an employee’s work flow. Obviously training and resources should be contextualized, personalized and instantly accessible.”

 The investors certainly like the platform.

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“We look for founders like Melanie and Zari, who are obsessed with solving challenging but significant problems in innovative ways,” said Foundry Group Partner, Jaclyn Freeman Hester, in a statement. “Spekit’s disruptive technology addresses a clear gap in the market by providing a comprehensive solution designed to mirror how individuals actually learn, absorb and retain knowledge.  … We are excited to welcome another Colorado-based company to the Foundry Group portfolio.”

As far as emphasizing the “woman-led,” Fellay said they shied away from the emphasis at first “and wanted it to be more about the product and company.”

But being that the tech landscape is still heavily male dominated, they also wanted to set an example.

“We’ve not ‘made it’ per se, but we want to see more women go out and start ventures in this crowded space,” Fellay said. “It’s an opportunity to make it a competitive advantage. To be different, and bold and add a creative twist to the brand.”