The adoption of remote work is estimated to have been accelerated by 15 years by the pandemic. This shift caused companies of all sizes to scramble to get employees up and running comfortably and securely from remote locations.
However, the cross-functional logistics of shipping, setting up, managing, repairing, is tedious and time-consuming. Here’s where Firstbase, a remote work SaaS platform that lets companies track and manage physical equipment assets, fills the gap.
While it takes around 5 hours and early $3,500 to set up a single hire, Firstbase, by comparison, centralises the entire process in 30 seconds with an affordable monthly subscription.
Secured £9.3 million
Recently, the SaaS company has secured $13 million (approx £9.3 million) in funding in a Series A round led by Andreessen Horowitz, with participation from B Capital Group and Alpaca VC.
As a part of the round, Firstbase has added Andreessen Horowitz’s David Ulevitch to its Board of Directors
How will the funding be used?
The new funding will fuel the company’s rapid growth plans through hiring, product development, and increased customer deployment. The company also intends to increase integration with HR and collaboration software partners and update its customer experience to quickly convert its 10,000+ waitlisted organisations
Aims to improve individuals quality of life
Headquartered in Scotland and New York, the company is on a mission to improve the individual’s quality of life by enabling remote work.
Founded in 2019 by Chris Herd and Trey Bastian, the company’s software helps companies set up, manage, maintain and retrieve all physical equipment remote workers need to work from home comfortably and effectively.
From laptops and monitors to mics and headsets, and ergonomic chairs and adjustable desks, Firstbase handles deployment of assets, IT installation and upgrades, ongoing repairs, culture and perks, and asset collection when a worker leaves.
Monthly subscription
Firstbase’s monthly subscription allows a company to establish its own unique catalogue of available inventory and the worker to select the equipment and tools to fit his or her individual needs.
Then, every aspect of order fulfillment and delivery is outsourced to Firstbase, essentially providing an infrastructure-as-a-service
Helped 1,500+ individuals
To date, Firstbase has helped more than 1,500+ individuals work remotely and is adding 350+ each month.
The company’s software is currently in use with customers with remote workers across the U.S. and Europe, including, TaxJar, Hey Summit, Recording Academy, Robin Healthcare, Clubhouse, SureSwift Capital, Edify, Filtered, DMT, Elemendar, Italic, Zego, and Verse.
“Most organisations underestimate the complexity and cost of going remote. Typically, HR, IT, and facilities teams are involved in getting a single employee set up with hardware, access, and security,” said Chris Herd, Co-founder, and CEO of Firstbase. “With so many people involved, mistakes are often made, costs are incurred and time is wasted. Our solution removes the hassle and friction from the remote setup and promises a better experience for everyone – emotionally, logistically, and financially. The same is true on the other end, when an employee leaves, we take the headache out of collecting, tracking, and redeploying the equipment.”
“With a permanent shift in attitudes toward remote and hybrid work, employees and companies are more reliant on their equipment and workspace to stay connected and productive than ever before,” said David Ulevitch, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. “Firstbase is the critical infrastructure that will power the distributed workforce. Employees get the setup they need to stay effective working from home and employers to have a centralized view and management system for all equipment. Firstbase is really leading the charge into the future of work.”
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