SaaS startup Produce8 raises $6M

For a local startup, eight equals six (million, that is). Produce8, a Vancouver-based SaaS company, announced $6 million in funding the company says will support strategic growth. After securing an initial pre-seed investment from Vancouver-based accelerator Top Down Ventures in 2020, Produce8 received traction upon the release of its early access platform — culminating in this seed funding round.

The 411: The startup aims to unite remote-first teams by combining workplace tools like Slack or Gmail into one spot, increasing transparency. The Produce8 team walks the talk too: By leveraging a remote-first distributed work model led by an experienced team of co-founders, Produce8 has assembled a team of over 20 staff that drive its continued growth and development.

Who’s saying what: “We invested in Produce8 to address a trillion-dollar problem for approximately 75 million North American knowledge workers," said Chris Day, managing partner at Top Down Ventures. "Few would argue that the workforce dynamic hasn't been forever changed. Existing solutions have been focused on employee monitoring and productivity enforcement. We believe there is a better way to address the root cause by focusing on people and their individual wellbeing.”

"We're thrilled to have this financial backing as well as meaningful engagement from all our stakeholders," added Mark Scott, co-founder of Produce8. "Through our discussions with remote teams, as well as interactions with beta and early access users currently leveraging Produce8, we feel incredibly validated in our product direction and excited for this next stage of our growth."

"We'll always stay true to our MSP roots, but our entire team — including our investors — are looking forward to sharing the innovation of this industry with the broader knowledge worker market," said Joel Abramson, co-founder of Produce8, and partner at Top Down Ventures. "We know the demand for what we're doing goes beyond MSP businesses directly to their clients. We are also very confident that larger enterprises can benefit greatly."

Why it matters: According to The Information Overload Research Group, American knowledge workers waste 25 percent of time interacting with data streams — including Slack, Zoom, and other digital tools — costing businesses $997 billion annually. Produce8 is working to lower those costs for businesses. Currently, the startup’s software remains at the early access stage. With seed funding now in hand, Produce8 is aiming for a full launch in 2023.