Leading health, safety and wellbeing company Sonder has announced a successful funding round raising A$40m (£19.5 million GBP) of capital led by Blackbird Ventures and SEEK, with new investment from Hostplus Super and support from other existing major investors including MA Growth Ventures.
The Australian tech company has also hit the major milestone of one million members, continuing its impressive 40 per cent year-on-year growth story.
The increasing demand for the product speaks to broader trends in Australian workplaces. HR teams are grappling with mounting complexity, seen through employee turnover and absenteeism, increasing customer aggression, elevated mental injury claims and psychosocial OHS legislation.
Sonder co-founder and CEO Craig Cowdrey highlighted the growing recognition among businesses that employee health, safety, and wellbeing are essential to both workforce engagement and commercial success.
“Businesses are recognising that investing in employee health, safety, and wellbeing is not just the right thing to do – it’s a critical driver of retention, productivity, and business success. Our latest data shows that 56% of members wouldn’t have sought help without Sonder, and 77% report feeling better after using our platform. That’s the real-world impact we’re delivering every day.
This funding will enable us to further enhance our platform, scale our operations across ANZ and the UK, and build new AI-driven features and products for our members and their parent organisations. We’re building a future where every employee has 24/7 access to medical, safety, and mental health support – ensuring they can bring their best selves to work and life,” he said.
The Sonder 2024 Burnout Report found 49 per cent of Australian and New Zealand employees often or always felt exhausted or burnt out in the previous 12 months and 52 per cent rated their mental health as average to very poor.
Recent data from Sonder also revealed that 75% of Australian and New Zealand employees in customer-facing roles experience customer aggression, with 25% reporting incidents at least once a week. Concerningly 29% of affected workers received no support after these incidents.
Blackbird partner and co-founder, Niki Scevak, said Sonder is established and has proven its worth to the Australian market.
“The Sonder platform delivers tangible health, wellbeing, safety and financial outcomes to customers, addressing core challenges that are prevalent across almost all businesses. With a healthy crop of blue chip businesses already signed and an outstanding team, we’re bullish Sonder will continue its rapid growth and be a household name,” he said.
Sonder is a trusted partner to many of Australia’s most recognisable brands, including David Jones, Yo-Chi, Lifeblood, Mirvac and IAG.
Recognising the critical role of proactive support, businesses like HOYTS have integrated Sonder into their workplace wellbeing strategies.
“Sonder has been instrumental in creating positive outcomes for our workforce. The ability to provide 24/7 safety, medical, and mental health support has not only helped our employees feel safer and more supported but has also delivered effective business benefits.
Knowing that our people have immediate access to expert support – whether they’re dealing with an incident in one of our cinemas, a personal medical concern, or a safety threat – has given us confidence that we’re not just meeting our duty of care, but are investing in our team’s wellbeing, said Jodi Paton, Chief People Officer at HOYTS.
About Sonder
Sonder is a leading safety, medical, and mental health support company that helps organisations protect their people and mitigate risk. Available 24/7, Sonder’s proactive and on-demand support connects employees and students to expert guidance, real-time safety monitoring, and immediate assistance when they need it most.
Related
- AFR: Wellness app Sonder secures $40m from Blackbird, Seek and Hostplus
- Capital Brief: Sonder raises $40m from Blackbird Ventures, Seek, Hostplus
- Startup Daily: Workplace wellbeing and safety app raises another $40 million
- Business News Australia: Wellbeing platform Sonder raises $40m amid a surge in demand to combat employee burnout