German Product Management Startup Raises $7.5 Million
Airfocus, a German product management software startup, has raised $7.5 million in new funding.
The Hamburg-based company has developed a platform that pulls together various elements of product management like sales, human resources, and engineering. The Washington Post and Caterpillar are among the startup’s users.
Airfocus believes that products often fail due to a scattered approach to their development, which can lead to the duplication of work, a lack of transparency between departments, and unclear strategies.
Malte Scholz, the Airfocus CEO, said AI will play a key role in eliminating much of the grunt work associated with product management.
“Imagine this — three years down the line, product managers will look back at 2024 and have a good chuckle about all the manual stuff they used to do, such as manually analyzing customer feedback or writing user stories,” he told Business Insider. “We see AI as this incredible tool that will make a lot of those old tasks seem like ancient history.”
The company previously raised a $5 million Series A in 2021 and is now bringing in $7.5 million in a round led by Dutch B2B fund Newion with the participation of XAnge, Nauta, Riverside Acceleration Capital, and Picea Capital.
“Raising capital in 2023 was a true test of resilience and vision. Investors were more selective and would reject deals by default,” Scholz added.
“We had to showcase the full spectrum of Airfocus’ capabilities. This meant presenting not only our potential but also our tangible achievements, efficiency improvements, and forward-looking strategies.”
The fresh capital will go toward expanding the company’s remote team which currently stands at around 46 staff, to around 80 by the end of 2024, Scholz said. In addition, the company will continue to invest in its AI-powered product operating system.
You can check out Airfocus’ 10-slide pitch deck below:
