Speakap’s expansion into the UK market follows the company’s recent success in securing Series A funding of EUR12.5m, and represents a key step in its growth strategy, providing a platform both to support international clients with a local presence and also to extend its reach among UK-based organisations.

The UK becomes Speakap’s sixth regional office, with the company having already established its presence in Germany, Spain and Brazil outside of its headquarters in the Netherlands. Speakap currently works with over 300 clients across 27 international markets.

Speakap’s UK launch is backed by the introduction of a six-strong sales and marketing team led by managing director Guy Chiswick, who has a wealth of experience in building technology brands in the UK. Chiswick is tasked with establishing and growing the company’s presence in the burgeoning market for employee engagement tools.

Initially developed by founders Erwin van der Vlist and Patrick van der Mijl while working part-time in a supermarket as students, Speakap has evolved to become a secure, GDPR-compliant, mobile-led solution for businesses facing the challenge of communicating with frontline workers.

The company’s technology enables employees working in non-desk-based environments, such as retail, hospitality, travel, leisure and tourism, to engage in two-way communication with head office colleagues using their mobile phones via a branded app, with functionality common to social media users.

Erwin van der Vlist, managing director and co-founder, Speakap, said, “Today marks an important point for Speakap. We have grown rapidly in just a few short years and the UK represents a key opportunity to sustain that growth. We are really pleased to have Guy on board as his strong track record in launching and scaling digital businesses will be key to the success of Speakap’s continued expansion.”

Guy Chiswick, managing director, UK & Ireland, Speakap, added, “From the first time I saw Speakap, I could see its potential for solving real-world problems for retail businesses. Frontline staff are not only one of a retailer’s biggest costs, but also their biggest weapon in an increasingly competitive and challenging environment. The ability to engage, empower and motivate via Speakap’s solution has proven a game-changer for European clients and I’m excited to bring that offering here to the UK.”

Speakap boasts a high level of engagement among users, with an 80% adoption rate within the first month of implementation, and an average of five or more log-ins per user per day, 90% of which is from a mobile.

Penny Grivea, UK managing director of lifestyle brand Rituals, which has deployed Speakap among its staff at an international level, said, “Rituals is a really fast-growing organisation which means we don’t have some of the legacy systems which prevent or slow down growth, and we need tools that can grow with the business. We use Speakap to inspire, inform, educate and incentivise our workforce. The huge benefit lies in being able to deliver key messages to all employees really fast or immediately even. Before Speakap, we never had that ability.”