Rossland’s high-tech darling Thoughtexchange has just received a cash injection to expand its operations.
Thoughtexchange says it’s secured $20 million worth of Series B financing from venture capitalists.
Thoughtexchange, started in 2009, is a communication system that allows companies (or government, or any user group) to create online conversations for anywhere from 10 to 100,000 people. Headquartered in Rossland, its simple software ensures everyone is heard, everyone learns and important ideas emerge. Thoughtexchange says it uses patented data analysis and AI to provide deep insights to decision leaders so they can take actions that have buy-in.
The financing comes as Thoughtexchange’s product gains traction with an expansive list of Fortune 500 companies such as Allstate Insurance and American Airlines, as well as hundreds of public organizations and technology companies like Looker and Frontier Communications.
The new financing comes from Information Venture Partners (Toronto), existing financier Yaletown Partners (Vancouver) and new investor Voyager Capital (Seattle).
As one of Canada’s fastest growing companies it has attracted world-class talent to its executive team including Jayme Smithers, former VP from SAP and Netsuite, Jessica Nordlander, former Googler and Sweden’s Most Innovative Leader, and Dess Wood, former VP Talent from Cineplex Entertainment.
The company’s cloud-based “software-as-a-service” platform allows leaders to crowd-source answers to open-ended questions in real-time. This helps leaders solve enormously complex problems. By removing bias and using AI analysis, any leader can tap directly into the collective intelligence and find out what’s most important to the target group.
“The way leaders succeed is evolving fast,” said Dave MacLeod, Thoughtexchange CEO. “People want to actively help solve the challenges their organizations face and invest in a greater mission. That goes beyond participating in the odd focus group or survey. Crowd-sourcing technology is attracting attention and capital because it helps leaders do their job better. It allows them to reach into all four corners of their organization or community and tap into a wealth of insight on any subject at any time. We can’t wait to see what more leaders do with it.”
Thoughtexchange has now engaged millions of users and includes a rich library of tested questions. As leaders from all across industries leverage the software, engaging their people to help them drive change, the platform gets smarter helping others ask more impactful questions.
In organizations across North America and the world, new Exchanges are being launched daily. Revenue leaders are learning what hundreds of sales people need to achieve their targets. Development leaders are learning what’s most important to those going through organizational change. Public leaders are learning what’s most important to their communities before allocating funding. Human resource leaders are learning what their people need most in order to be effective and feel appreciated.
It’s the second round of financing announced this year for the growing company. In February, MacLeod announced it had attracted $4 million in funding to help drive expansion.
SEE: Rossland tech firm raises $4 million in financing
“We are excited to join the Thoughtexchange team to help expand the footprint of this revolutionary approach to sharing ideas. In the decades that we have tracked new technologies, never have we seen something so simple have such a remarkable impact extracting the best ideas from your most important assets, your teams. I encourage everyone to have a look,” said Robert Antoniades, general partner of Information Venture Partners. “Having identified and help grow some of Canada’s most successful startups, we believe Thoughtexchange can follow these successes.”
