Sunlight, a London start-up that offers a platform for learning and development to enable companies to offer more tailored professional development, has raised £ 500,000 in funds starting. Leading the tour is Speedinvest, with the participation of previous funders Seedcamp, and Annection, among a number of people.
Founded in 2016 by the brothers Carlos and Juan Lagrange, Sunlight is a SaaS designed to help companies implement individualized professional development programs and articulates around the idea of "the best of the world". empower staff to take ownership of their professional development. The premise is that a new generation of employees places a lot more value on learning and development as part of a set of social benefits. And for companies to remain competitive, especially with regard to scale-ups, they must be proactive in this direction.
In particular, the Sunlight platform allows businesses to allocate each member a learning and development budget – which they are allowed to spend on professional development each year – and offers related features, such as approving requests from employees (eg books, courses and events), or the ability to create "playlists".
Another aspect of Sunlight can be seen as a concierge service of learning and development: you are not limited to the Sunlight market and you can order products outside of it with the # 39; s help from the Sunlight Learning and Development Team. or ask for recommendations for learning and development.
The startup is also talking about its use of data – as all start-ups tend to do – and says that the platform is able to "spot trends, suggest new courses, and even report when someone is doing it." one looks at learning tools apart from their current job description. "At this point, I suppose, the HR department can step in to begin a broader conversation about the best way to support your job. professional development and to persuade you not to leave.
"Learning is currently the most desirable benefit among newer generations entering the job market, but organizations are struggling to create attractive learning and development programs for This translates into a disengaged workforce, a high rate of employee churn and lower productivity at work, "says co-founder and CEO Carlos Lagrange." Sunlight solves this problem. providing a platform that helps companies develop a highly engaging learning culture that facilitates the access of their team to any book, event or course in the world. "
In the longer term, Mr. Lagrange says that Sunlight's vision is to help counteract the effects of automation on work, by allowing businesses and governments to invest in professional development and growth of people. Recycling or lifelong learning, if not already done, will become essential for many more people.
"It is estimated that half of the world's jobs are likely to be automated in the next 30 years, which will create a huge need to upgrade skills and retrain millions of people for new jobs. But more importantly, we need to rethink how we approach education and how we invest in people, "he says.
Meanwhile, the startup is making money by charging SaaS fees of $ 3 per user per month for businesses with more than 30 employees. "For small startups of this size, we wanted to make it free because we believe that investing in your team should not be something you will leave at a later stage," adds Lagrange. "In addition to SaaS fees, we are also starting to monetize affiliate sales, which means that every time someone buys a book or course, we take a percentage of the final provider. Our long-term plan is to expand our affiliate sales model to the point where we can reduce SaaS charges. "