Electric provides real-time IT support to businesses, alongside insights and data on its customers’ IT infrastructure. The company today announced it has raised $ 40 million in a series C round of funding led by Greenspring Associates.
Founded out of New York in 2016, Electric offers chat-based IT support integrated directly into Slack or Microsoft Teams, with employees able to access technical support from Electric’s 100-plus team within 10 minutes. Requests range from password reset support and access to files or folders to troubleshooting network connections and hardware glitches or ordering a new mouse and keyboard.
In addition to providing IT support, Electric’s platform, which it calls Turbine, gives companies visibility into all their IT support needs though data and analytics that show the volume of requests by type, time period, person, and more.
“Turbine provides real-time insights into the health of a company’s IT infrastructure, including the security posture of devices such as multi-factor authentication adoption, device assignment, software upgrades needed, employee ticket requests by category and customer satisfaction, and employee onboarding and offboarding data,” Electric founder and CEO Ryan Denehy said.
The raise comes as companies across the spectrum have been forced to embrace remote work due to the global pandemic, a shift that is looking increasingly likely to be permanent as businesses realize the benefits of operating a distributed workforce. An upshot of this transition is that platforms that support remote workers have thrived over the past year, with the likes of Splashtop recently securing $ 50 million to expand its remote access and support platform in the enterprise.
Above: Electric: Powering IT support
Turbine also offers a feature called IT Scorecard, which provides insights into the overall health of a company’s devices and applications, including specific devices that don’t have a firewall installed or are running on older versions of their operating system. It can also share which users are not using two-factor authentication (2FA) and provide recommendations for improving security.
Above: Electric: IT Scorecard
The space Electric occupies is broadly filled with local managed IT service providers, but the company has set out to differentiate itself by offering a single, unified platform for managing its customers’ IT activities. These include security; device assignment, procurement, and provisioning; and application support and management. In tandem, the company offers real-time tech support at an individual level, which may be appealing to remote businesses that don’t want to invest in a full in-house IT support team.
“SMBs have traditionally been forced to either work with local IT providers or hire an internal person who may or may not be dedicated or trained on the complexities of IT issues,” Denehy said. “Electric manages the entire IT function by providing an IT platform that highlights data and insights about the business and real-time support through Slack or Microsoft Teams.”
Electric had previously raised around $ 52 million, and with its latest cash injection, which includes backing from Bessemer Venture Partners, GGV Capital, 01 Advisors, Primary Venture Partners, Atreides Management, and Vintage Investment Partners, the company said it plans to double down on its mission to deliver “enterprise-grade IT support” to SMBs.
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