HRtech startup Zoios has announced a €1 million Seed raise to turn poor managers into great leaders. 

Copenhagen-based Zoios was founded in 2021 by Christian Højbo Møller and Mikkel Agesen.

The Danish startup provides an AI-powered platform that tracks employee well-being and performance and delivers recommendations for leadership teams and HR professionals. 

According to  Zoios CEO, Christian Højbo Møller, poor leadership is becoming more costly with an increasingly intense fight for talent where the negotiation power has shifted from employer to employee. 

“Meanwhile, declining well-being in the workplace and increasing stress levels is no longer acceptable. It’s no wonder that talented leaders contribute 48 per cent higher profits.”

He contends that companies spend more on leadership development programs than all of HR tech combined. 

“That’s remarkable. The same leadership problems have existed for centuries indicating that the current solution doesn’t solve them. We don’t need more theory, we need actual insight, time and tools that support the leader daily.

Our solution has proven to improve employee well-being by 19% and decrease organisational stress by 18% in just 6 months.”

So far, they’ve established themselves in the Scandinavian market, working with big organisations such as Telenor Red Cross, and Maersk as well as scaleups like Veo and Donkey Republic. 

Zoios is especially suited for knowledge workers. The platform tracks the 8 drivers behind a happy and productive work life such as the feeling of manager support, social well-being and personal development. 

Based on anonymised employee input, the platform provides leaders, HR professionals, and People & Culture teams with data and tailored advice on where to adjust.

The funding comes from People’s Ventures, Y Combinator, and a syndicate of prominent Danish angel investors.

Christian Tost, General Partner in People Ventures, shared:

“We see a huge potential for Zoios as a platform to make leadership more data-driven and copilot the managers as they lead their team. 

Good managers and leaders are likely the one thing every executive knows to be a “power lever” to successful teams and departments.

They are already on the brink of being a profitable business while growing triple digits yearly, which just makes the case even stronger.”

Lead image: Zoios. Photo: uncredited.