Romanian startup Pluria receives USD 2 mln in latest funding round
Romanian future-of-work startup Pluria recently announced that it has received financial backing worth USD 2 million from international investors led by Southeast European Eleven Ventures, and joined by Germany-based Croton Capital, Romania-based WIT Angels Club, and US-based Phoenix Venture Fund, among others.
The startup's origins can be found during the pandemic. “During the pandemic, Gabriela and I realized that having a proper workspace is super important. I was literally working from my dressing room, with my laptop surrounded by t-shirts, while she was working from her car, to hide from the construction noise in her building at the time,” Pluria CEO and co-founder Andrei Cretu told The Recursive.
The duo’s challenges were not unheard of in Bucharest, which convinced them to launch Pluria, a startup designed for a future of work vision, which includes a preference for hybrid and remote work, and thus increasingly distributed teams and an erosion of value in fixed real estate assets for companies. In a short time span, Pluria expanded its network to 500 curated workspaces in Latin America (Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru, Argentina) and Europe (Romania, Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal).
At the moment, more than 150 companies use the app to keep their remote and hybrid teams connected and engaged. The app is continuously optimized to address the need of managers and teams to ensure motivation, engagement, and effective communication within their hybrid work models.
The two founders have ambitious goals. The first step, they say, is consolidating their presence in Latin America and Eastern Europe.
“International enterprises tend to scout talent from these two regions, where they can find great talent and affordable prices. But oftentimes, these people are working remotely, and sometimes, they do not have proper working conditions at home, which means they require an alternative to working exclusively remotely,” Draghia said.
Pluria also aims to improve the lives of employees by joining together increasingly distributed teams. “Right now, we have a great B2B product, which puts a lot of control and transparency in the hands of the organizations, while providing a good user experience for team members. Going forward, we want to take the product further in the direction of helping teams connect. So, the roadmap will include simple product feature updates, like allowing users to invite a colleague or an external party to join them for a workday,” Andrei Cretu added.
The app brings numerous advantages, its founders say. “A distributed network of spaces also translates also into carbon footprint reduction. Instead of spending half an hour in a car to get to the main headquarters, employees can actually just walk or take a bicycle to a co-working space near home. So, to an extent, it can also be a CSR-type of activity for companies,” said Gabriela Draghia, Pluria co-founder.
(Photo source: Pluria on Facebook)
