London-based people operations software specialist Zelt snags Nauta led $6 million funding round

Zelt reports a $6 million funding round led by Nauta, with participation from Venrex and Episode 1.

The company enables organisations to manage their whole workforce across the employee lifecycle in a single system, enabling them to simplify and automate people processes across HR, finance and IT functions.

The cash will be used to expand its product set to include more areas of operations, expand to new geographies and add new and improved features to support customers.

Zelt was founded in 2020 by Chris Priebe, a former VC and PE investor with experience in HR rech, and Polina Vorms, former product lead at Talkwaker and GfK. The platform is used by over 150 customers including Shakespeare’s Globe, Club L and Mumsnet. Through its core offering, companies can manage diverse areas of people ops such as payroll, expenses, device security, goal tracking and holiday bookings.

“2024 was an excellent year for us as we launched our new Growth module, onboarded our first 1,000+ headcount organisation and closed a new round of funding that will enable us to invest even more into building the best product available in the market,” says Priebe.

“We see a $50 billion opportunity globally as organisations move away from legacy and point solutions, to a next-generation all in one platform. Alongside the capital, it's great to have such an experienced and well aligned investor like Nauta onboard as a partner at this stage in our journey.”

“By investing across B2B software, Nauta has a strong grasp on the variety of solutions in place across the enterprise landscape to pay, support and monitor employees. We have also seen how these solutions have evolved and grown over the last 20 years, to the point where enterprises can have hundreds of subscriptions and chaotic practices in place to satisfy the needs of the workforce,” says Carles Ferrer, General Partner at Nauta.

“Zelt provides an answer to this problem, enabling a more modern approach to people operations and offering a seamless way to save time and money. Many mid-market companies are looking for all in one solutions now and we’re excited to watch Zelt go after this opportunity. The team has achieved some very impressive milestones already and we are delighted to be backing them.”

2024 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS

Startups were a key focus area at the sixth edition of the RTIH Innovation Awards.

The awards celebrate global tech innovation in a fast moving omnichannel world.

Our 2024 hall of fame entrants were revealed during an event which took place at RIBA’s 66 Portland Place HQ in Central London on 21st November, and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by comedian Lucy Porter.

In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “The event is now into its sixth year and what a journey it has been. The awards started life as an online only affair during the Covid outbreak, before launching as a small scale in real life event and growing year on year to the point where we’re now selling out this fine, historic venue.”

He added: “Congratulations to all of our finalists. Many submissions did not make it through to the final stage, and getting to this point is no mean feat. Checkout-free stores, automated supply chains, immersive experiences, on-demand delivery, next generation loyalty offerings, inclusive retail, green technology. We’ve got all the cool stuff covered this evening.”

“But just importantly we’ve got lots of great examples of companies taking innovative tech and making it usable in everyday operations - resulting in more efficiency and profitability in all areas.”

Congratulations to our 2024 winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Lucy Porter, and all those who attended November's gathering.