The objectives and key result (OKR) software industry is a sector of business performance management that enables businesses to streamline their operations processes in various fields, spanning employee engagement, project management, and goal setting. The global OKR software market is estimated to surpass $1.59 billion by 2026, according to Coherent Market Insights.
As millions of employees transitioned to remote work during the pandemic, organizations have increased investments in project management software to support collaboration in the absence of physical workspaces. According to Accenture, pre-pandemic, 40% of executives felt “highly agile” to flexibly make changes, a percentage that plummeted to 18% when that agility was tested over the past 12 months.
WorkBoard is an OKR-focused startup that’s benefitted from this trend. The Redwood City, California-based company was founded in 2013. WorkBoard offers automated business reviews, dashboards, and customizable meeting agendas to help companies align and iterate on strategic priorities. Deidre Paknad and her husband Daryoush Paknad started the company when Deidre’s previous startup was acquired by IBM. Daryoush, a technologist, was one of the first three members of the Adobe Acrobat team and an engineering leader at Netscape.
WorkBoard lets companies chart, calculate, and share progress on key results and success metrics across mobile, web, and other platforms, including Slack and Microsoft Teams.
The software company recently announced that it has raised $75 million in funding during a Series D round. Softbank Group led the investment, which saw participation from prior investors including Microsoft’s M12 venture capital arm, a16z, GGV, and Workday Ventures. Per the company, three new investors also took part: SVB Capital, Capital One Ventures, and Intel Capital.
Workboard has a slew of competitors in the booming market, including Ally.io, Asana, Kazoo and Timely. However, the startup is unfazed, having gained hundreds of high-profile clients including Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, and a number of financial institutions, manufacturers, life sciences, and healthcare companies. The company says it grew more than 100% in 2020, more than 200% in 2019, and is on track to double this year.
