Middle East start-up Workfam joins disruptive tech portfolio of GELLIFY and Azimut

- The capital increase, which has been underwritten by GELLIFY together with Azimut Digitech Fund, will help Workfam, the employee engagement tech start-up, streamline its business and prepare for international expansion

- This first co-investment by GELLIFY and Azimut Digitech Fund in the Middle East lays the foundation for a more exclusive focus on disruptive innovators from the UAE and wider region

- Azimut and GELLIFY will launch the venture capital fund for B2B tech start-ups in the Middle East by the end of 2021

DUBAI, UAE, July 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- UAE based start-up, Workfam, the employee engagement SaaS platform that supports organizations with their mission to create a happy, healthy, and highly engaged workforce, has joined the portfolio of GELLIFY, a B2B innovation platform that selects, invests in, and grows innovative high-tech startups and connects them to traditional companies to help them innovate their processes, products, and business models.

GELLIFY underwrote the capital increase along with Azimut through the Azimut Digitech Fund, a closed-end alternative B2B venture capital fund that invests exclusively in B2B technology companies, launched in partnership with GELLIFY.

Workfam was founded in the UAE in 2018 by Cameron Collins, former Product Marketing Manager - Cloud & Enterprise at Microsoft, and is a player in the fast growing HR Tech - Employee Engagement market.

In 2019, the HR Tech market was valued at $47.5 billion while the global growth expectations for the sector are at $90 billion in market value in 2025 (an equivalent of a 13.7%).

As companies globally begin to adopt long-term work from home policies, they are turning to HR solutions and software to help them retain high levels of employee engagement.

The modern remote workforce is struggling to remain engaged, motivated, and productive. Furthermore, HR departments are recognizing the importance of both the mental and physical wellbeing of their employees. This topic has now become an integral part of every organization's HR strategy moving forward.

Workfam helps organizations leverage their employee retention through several stimuli: it provides opportunities for employees to work on their mental and physical wellbeing, giving them access to customized benefits; it allows to create synergies and connections by driving cross-industry and cross-offering collaboration and breaking down workforce silos; it also encourages internal competitions for a healthy lifestyle, through badge collection and rankings; it allows to reward employees for their personal and professional achievements; it leverages data to let the corporate leadership make informed decisions about employee engagement.

GELLIFY's co-investment transaction with Azimut - through the Azimut Digitech Fund - will help Workfam with its consolidation process and international scale up phase.

This first co-investment transaction by Azimut and GELLIFY lays the foundation for a series of new co-investments in B2B tech startups through a dedicated Fund that will be launched in the Middle East by the end of 2021.

Massimo Cannizzo, CEO and Co-Founder of GELLIFY Middle East, commented: "I am excited to announce the first GELLIFY and Azimut joint Middle East investment in Workfam, an auspicious employee engagement platform based in Dubai, UAE, with promising plans to expand internationally by leveraging GELLIFY global ecosystem. At GELLIFY, we have always believed that a strong 'Human Centric' focus is the key in Digital Era, where the global pandemic confirmed that Digital Adoption and Employees Engagement are the real challenges of the future markets. And our co-investment, validates the trust in potential of Workfam and confirms our 'Human Centric' focus."

Giorgio Medda, the Azimut Group Co-CEO and Global Head of Asset Management commented: "This transaction marks the acceleration of Azimut's private markets investment in the GCC. We are pleased that this happening in the UAE, which is a key center of our global integrated asset management platform since 2016, with offices in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. We have big plans to scale this effort up with a brand new fund, domiciled in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, focusing exclusively on B2B tech start-ups rooted and developed out of the UAE and the wider region, which is a testament to a vibrant ecosystem conducive for disruptive innovation with a global potential."

Cameron Collins, the CEO and Founder of Workfam, commented: "Our strategic partnership with GELLIFY and Azimut will support Workfam's 'Go Global' mission. We will use the financing to strengthen our capabilities and maximize the value that we deliver to our current and future stakeholders. Our flexible approach to customization, integration and authentication enables us to successfully differentiate our solution from other HR platforms. Business leaders and HR professionals around the world are looking to reshape their current policies and practices to prioritize employee engagement, wellbeing, and happiness. There has never been a more exciting time to be in the HR Tech market. Attracting and retaining top talent can no longer be achieved by simply offering an appealing fixed salary. Instead, people are flocking to organizations that prioritize culture and work-life balance. We believe we are perfectly positioned to capitalize on the growing market opportunity, and are delighted to have GELLIFY and Azimut join our Workfam.

About GELLIFY

GELLIFY is an innovation platform that connects high-tech B2B startups with traditional companies to innovate their processes, products, and business models. With headquarters in Italy and offices in Spain and the United Arab Emirates, the company's success is based on its unique model that infuses companies with the most advanced B2B startup technologies and GELLIFY's expertise. The platform accompanies startups from their "gaseous" or "liquid" embryonic state to a reliable and scalable "solid" state through its exclusive and proprietary growth program, GELLIFICATION. This growth is financed through smart investments implemented by GELLIFY and its co-investors.

GELLIFY has also created a community called EXPLORE where entrepreneurs, innovators, and professionals can connect on any digital device. Through the app, downloadable from the App Store and Google Play Store, subscribers can have phygital experiences that alternate between the physical and digital world, participate in events, and infuse their companies with the most advanced startup technologies and GELLIFY skills.

GELLIFY consists of 3 business units:

• GELLIFY for Startups, which is dedicated to the gellification of startups that have already expressed traction in the market. The gellification program provides more complex services than the mentorship and basic business creation services typical of incubators. It lasts 6-24 months and involves all areas of the company.
• GELLIFY for Companies, which is focused on open innovation services for SMEs and large corporations that want to build new innovative business paths. This division specializes in corporate venturing, innovation strategies, sales and marketing digitization, Industry 4.0 and digital operations, digitization, and workforce empowerment.
• GELLIFY for Investors, which provides investment advisory services and manages a GELLIFY Investment Fund for selected innovative B2B tech startups.

Partners of GELLIFY for 2021 include the tax consulting firm Pirola Pennuto Zei & Associati with Partner Stefano Tronconi and Associate Partner Luca Neri; the law firm Gianni & Origoni with Partner Federico Dettori and Associate Partner Rodrigo Boccioletti, as part of the activities of the Gop4Venture practice; and T.T. Tecnosistemi, a company focused on advanced IT solutions.

GELLIFY Contacts
Corporate Communications
Daniela Abbondanza
Mob. +39 342 0982305
Email: [email protected] 
Website: www.gellify.com 
Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/gellify  

About Workfam

Founded in 2018 by Cameron Collins, Workfam provides HR solutions and consultancy services that support companies with their mission to create a happy, healthy, and highly engaged workforce. Workfam's enterprise SaaS solution offers employee benefits, corporate wellness, internal communications, reward and recognition, and pulse surveys. Their holistic employee engagement platform encourages and enables companies to focus on their most important asset, their people.

As companies globally begin to adopt long-term work from home policies, they are turning to HR solutions and software to help them retain high levels of employee engagement. The modern remote workforce is struggling to remain engaged, motivated, and productive. Furthermore, HR departments are recognizing the importance of both the mental and physical wellbeing of their employees. This topic has now become an integral part of every organization's HR strategy moving forward.

Workfam's enterprise SaaS solution encourages your talent to pursue and share their passions, take risks, and discover hidden talents. Whether you are a fitness freak, a creative creature, or an adrenaline junkie – Workfam's unique algorithm will match like-minded colleagues to their partners' discounted services. Through the platform, you can encourage healthy internal competition using the Wellness Leader Board. Distribute points, recognize with badges, and allow your employees to redeem their points for awesome rewards. Workfam helps organizations remain competitive by optimizing employee relations and workplace happiness. Their HR Solution enables companies to make informed, data driven decisions by gathering, processing, and analyzing the information collected from their workforce. As software development is built into Workfam's DNA, they've committed to continuously build solutions that contribute towards creating a happy and healthy Workforce, or as they like to call it, Workfam.

Workfam Contacts
CEO and Founder
Cameron Collins
Mob. +971 52 629 3429
Email: [email protected]  
Website: www.workfam.com

About Azimut

Azimut is one of Europe's leading independent asset manager (active since 1989). The parent company Azimut Holding was listed on the Italian stock exchange on 7 July 2004 (AZM.MI) and, among others, is a member of the main Italian index FTSE MIB. The shareholder structure includes over 1.900 managers, employees and financial advisors bound by a shareholders' agreement that controls over 21,8% of the company. The remaining is free float. The Group comprises various companies active in the sale, management and distribution of financial and insurance products, with Registered Offices mainly in Italy, Luxembourg, Ireland, China (Hong Kong and Shanghai), Monaco, Switzerland, Taiwan, Brazil, Egypt, Singapore, Mexico, Australia, Chile, USA, UAE and Turkey. In Italy, Azimut Capital Management SGR sells and manages Italian mutual funds, Italian alternative investment funds, as well as being active in the discretionary management of individual investment portfolios. Furthermore, Azimut Capital Management SGR, following the demerger by incorporation of Azimut Consulenza SIM, distributes Group and third-party products in Italy via a network of financial advisors while Azimut Libera Impresa focuses on the Alternatives business. Overseas main operations are Azimut Investments (formerly AZ Fund Management, founded in Luxembourg in 1999), which manages the multi strategy funds AZ Fund 1 and AZ Multi Asset and the Irish Azimut Life DAC, which offers life insurance products.

Azimut Holding S.p.A. contacts                         
www.azimut-group.com 
Media Relations
Maria Laura Sisti (Esclapon & Co.)
Mob. +39 347 42 82 170
Email: [email protected]
Viviana Merotto
Mob.. +39 338 7496248
Email: [email protected]

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