The HBAN angel investor network is investing in Belfast’s Thrive, which provides employee communications software and support.

Private investors and Co-Fund II make up the other investors, whose contributions bring the total investment by shareholders in Thrive to €3.25m.

The company recently hit 250,000 licenced users and has won some major new clients in the past year, including US media corporation HBO; Santos Brasil, the largest port operator in Latin America; and Fairchild Medical Center in California. 

Its existing client base includes councils, healthcare companies, manufacturing businesses, food firms, retailers and others, mostly businesses with employees who are not desk-based — clients such as Carlsberg, An Post, and Air France KLM.

Managing director James Scott said: “We are seeing organisations all over the world waking up to the strong business benefits of good employee comms. With the vast majority of people now carrying a smartphone, it makes an app the perfect way to connect with employees. 

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“We’ve designed the Thrive platform to be so easy to use that organisations can be up and running and improving the way they communicate and share information with employees in no time.”

According to Thrive, the platform allows users to create native iPhone and Android apps, as well as responsive web apps. Scott added: “Our clients are using the Thrive platform to provide employees with information they need to do their job, and engage them more fully in the organisation. Companies are seeing direct tangible benefits from using the Thrive platform including happier team-members, reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and better customer service.”

The company said it will use the new funding to begin a five-year expansion plan that includes a target of a million users by 2022. To begin with, it will create ten new jobs  in marketing, software development, and customer care.

The HBAN angel investor network is a joint initiative of Enterprise Ireland, InterTradeIreland and Invest Northern Ireland that supports the early stage entrepreneurial community across the island, and actively works to increase the number of angel investors investing in early stage companies.

Thrive co-founder and chairman Stephen Gunning added: “This investment means we can now activate a five-year growth plan, supported by ongoing assistance from Invest NI, which will see us expand our UK, Ireland and international customer base and grow our team, as well as further develop our Thrive software platform and services.”

Photo (l-r): Stephen Gunning, marketing VP Grainne Elliott, COO Philip Murray and James Scott.