Oren Zeev, who was formerly with Apax Partners, and who invests personally in companies seeking to disrupt old markets, has led a $25 million investment round in GrowthSpace, an Israeli company that wants to change enterprise growth consultancy radically, was founded four years ago by Omer Glass, Dan Terner, and Izhak Keidar, had raised $19 million before the current round, but the global economic slowdown has made it more relevant than ever.
GrowthSpace’s website offers companies enterprise and personal growth activities for managers and staff, and recently it has mainly focused on programs to improve output and leadership at times of crisis. "Companies that in the past had a range of programs that were not very focused and dealt more with employer branding are now ordering programs focused on productivity, improving management processes, empowering workers, and development for managers and team leaders," Terner, who serves as chief operating officer at GrowthSpace, told "Globes".
"With the rise in prices and interest rates, we noticed that companies that cut staff want to focus on developing the employees who remain. Enterprises that have been affected know that they need to invest in those managers who see the workers every day so that processes will continue to happen. Investment in development of the product and the company is an excellent way to foster higher productivity in smaller teams. Today, they are looking for advice on improving business processes, better management, and marketing and sales processes."
GrowthSpace’s system, which is restricted to customers’ human resources departments, offers 2,500 consultants and experts on various aspects of enterprise development, such as development of sales teams, building marketing channels, management under tight schedules, and agile project management.
The system also facilitates monitoring of the enterprise’s business performance, and thereby demonstrates the contribution of the development process to final results. It is currently installed at about 150 customers, most of them large organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, the US federal government, and Siemens. In Israel it is used by technology companies such as Monday.com, Taboola, Amdocs, Check Point, and Applied Materials.
"In a period of uncertainty, I'm very selective about investment," Zeev said. "It has never been more important for employers to focus on their employees and to connect their professional development to business performance."
Oren Zeev lives in Palo Alto. Through his Zeev Ventures he has invested in, among other companies, technology companies Audible and Riverside, architecture and house design platform Houzz, business travel company TripActions, and payment platforms Tipalti and HoneyBook.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on August 18, 2022.
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