BANGALORE, India--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Theatro, the pioneer of voice controlled wearable communications devices for hourly workers in the retail, hospitality and manufacturing market segments, announced today that it has closed a $5 million investment from Khosla Ventures in a Series A round. After securing early backing from an “A-list” of angel investors, this round brings the total investment in Theatro to $8.8 million. Ben Ling, investment partner at Khosla Ventures, who served in senior operating roles at Google, YouTube and Facebook, led the investment and has joined Theatro’s board of directors. The capital will be used to help Theatro aggressively expand its sales and marketing efforts as well as broaden and accelerate product innovation.
"Enterprise communication will be more effective with mobile technology," said Vinod Khosla, founder of Khosla Ventures. "Theatro is well positioned to help increase workforce productivity through their voice-enabled, hands-free device and corresponding productivity apps."
“Hourly employees are one of today’s most valuable workforces, and they could be more effective and productive with innovative technology tools available to them,” said Chris Todd, Theatro CEO. “Ben Ling and Khosla Ventures share our vision of the prominent impact that enhanced enterprise communications can have on mobile workforces by connecting employees to one another while they’re on the job and also to their company’s business information. We are very excited to be teaming with KV as we redefine the future of this important and growing workforce.”
The Series A financing builds on the continued momentum of the company since announcing the commercial availability of their SaaS offering in December 2013. The company is rapidly growing with a notable list of national retail clients and opened a research and development (R&D) center in Bangalore, India in February of 2014.
“Improving workforce productivity and customer satisfaction is at the heart of Theatro’s suite of products and is a major challenge for most retailers,” said Ling. “We are excited to work with Theatro during their next phase of growth as they roll out the service to retailers across the nation.”
About Theatro
Theatro has pioneered the market’s first voice-enabled enterprise wearable coupled with a software suite of productivity applications for brick and mortar retail, hospitality and manufacturing enterprises. Our “Heads-Up and Hands Free” mobile communications and management solution, delivered over the in-store WiFi to every hourly employee, is the perfect solution for on the move workforces. To discover how Theatro can help with hourly worker productivity, please visit www.theatro.com.
About Khosla Ventures
Khosla Ventures provides venture assistance and strategic advice to entrepreneurs working on breakthrough technologies. The firm was founded in 2004 by Vinod Khosla, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. With over three billion dollars under management, the firm focuses on a broad range of areas including consumer, enterprise, education, advertising, financial services, semiconductors, health, big data, agriculture/food, sustainable energy and robotics. Khosla Ventures is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif. For more information, visit www.khoslaventures.com.