Bonusly raises $18.9M in funding to help companies retain the best employees through recognition and merit-based rewards

Over the past few years, over 20 million people quit their jobs in what the experts described as the Great Resignation. The number was one of the highest “quit rates” ever recorded since the US government started keeping track two decades ago.

As the Great Resignation continues and more employees rethink their career goals and paths, attracting and retaining strong talent becomes even more mission-critical for the survival of every business. That’s why companies have introduced various measures and incentives such as employee recognition and reward programs to retain existing workers and attract new talent.

Employee Recognition is critical to employee retention in today’s competitive jobs market. According to a 2022 survey of 2,000 respondents, 63% of workers feel unappreciated by their employer on a daily basis and 46% left a job because they felt unappreciated. Frequent, authentic recognition of their work can make an enormous difference. In fact, nearly two-thirds (65%) said they are likely to stay at a job if their coworkers and peers recognize their work, even if they have an unappreciative manager. It’s against this backdrop that one company is on a mission to help organizations facilitate employee recognition through merit-based rewards and retain the best talent.

Enter Bonusly, a Boulder, Colorado-based tech startup that connects teams and enriches company culture through its engaging recognition and rewards platform. In just a few years after launch, Bonusly is now ranked by G2 as No. 1 in Employee Recognition ahead of the big players in the space. That’s not all, Bonusly is also ranked No. 3 in Employee Engagement, used by top-tier companies including Chobani, ZipRecruiter, Pender Veterinary, and SDMI.

To further enhance its recognition platform and build out its analytics capabilities, Bonusly announced today it has closed $18.9 million in Series B funding led by Ankona Capital, with participation from existing investors FirstMark Capital, Access Venture Partners, and Next Frontier Capital. Bonusly will also use the new capital infusion to invest in sales and marketing to further expand go-to-market activities.

Founded in 2012 by John Quinn and Raphael Crawford-Marks, Bonusly’s platform empowers real-time recognition to highlight accomplishments big and small in a very positive and public way, which fosters stronger cultures and builds resilient companies. The company also provides strong support for an organization’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs by recognizing and encouraging inclusiveness.

While other employee engagement companies offer little more than gift card programs, Bonusly’s recognition platform captures and analyzes a treasure trove of real-time data on how organizations really work, communicate, and connect, informing HR teams and managers so they can make powerful behavior change throughout an employee population.

“We saw almost instant engagement with Bonusly after deployment, and the recognition our people have given and received has had a big positive impact on employee morale,” said Daniel McAdams, President at Andiamo. “We’ve seen significant, measurable increases in our employee retention and engagement rate, which has translated to greater productivity. And just as important is the rich, current data Bonusly provides on the interconnections within our organization. We’re a stronger organization thanks to Bonusly.”

In addition, Bonusly’s proprietary graph database also enables management to gain a keen understanding of how their company actually functions. With this information, HR and managers can better help team members continuously improve, foster collaboration and belonging, and assess behavior changes to predict turnover.

“This new capital will enable us to expand and build on the strong foundation we have in place, enabling companies to meet the constantly changing people challenges of today’s volatile economy,” said Raphael Crawford-Marks, founder and CEO of Bonusly. “Since our Series A, we have seen our valuation more than triple, despite the multiple compression that has occurred in today’s market — a strong recognition of the value we already provide and the even greater opportunity that lies ahead. We’re just getting started.”