Remote-work boom powers Firstbase to $50M Series B

Kleiner Perkins is leading a Series B round of funding. The company's Series A was covered one year ago, when the world's remote work shift was fully underway.

With corporations large and small trying to figure out how they will balance in-office employees and staff working from home, we were curious about how Firstbase is planning for the future.

New hires receive required hardware when they need it, as a result of the startup helping customers onboard remote staff. Getting technology products out to new recruits is not always a simple process, and as the physical distance between corporate offices and individual workers grows, you are likely aware that.

Since we last spoke, the company has added more features. New workers at Firstbase help customers pick hardware, handle shipment and management. Financing was added to the mix. Firstbase will allow customers to pay for new employee hardware and other remote-friendly office peripherals on a ratable basis.

Growth in a hybrid era

How it fits into a world that is partially returning to in-office work is the key question for Firstbase. After posting startup-grade metrics in recent quarters, including 16x revenue growth since April 2021, from a 7x customer boost over a similar time frame, will the market prove less welcoming to Firstbase's remote-employee servicing product than before?

Firstbase is being used by companies with hybrid workforces to get hardware to in-office workers as well as those who work from their own digs, according to founder and CEO Chris Herd. The company was asked about its customer split between remote-first and hybrid-style companies, in order to get a better idea of where the average company is going. Firstbase's customer mix is fairly even split, but some companies are still majority-remote.

The future of work is uncertain.

Firstbase's building could fit nicely into the office world. The startup is either planning or developing warehouse capacity in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe. The startup has a physical footprint that allows it to manage the flow of devices to and from workers. Even though there is a global chip shortage, it is still attractive for companies to use a third party for critical supply chain work.

Firstbase was asked if it has plans to become a mobile device management business. MDMs like Jamf do more work on-device than on physical delivery and care. Two years ago, building MDM capabilities was a consideration. He said that customers wanted it to plug into existing MDM products and HRIS software systems rather than replace them.

If Firstbase sells enough into small businesses that don't have MDM tooling, it might be possible to build something simple for smaller customers.

After expecting his company to work with Series A and B-stage startups, Herd said that his company is scaling up the maturity ladder to customers hiring hundreds and thousands of workers. He said that means six-figure deals instead of five-figure deals. Private companies typically don't share more than these metrics, but in this case they help explain the company's recent growth rate.

Firstbase is a combination of software, hardware and tech. It's hard to guess its gross margins. We can get a peek at the data if the company goes public as quickly as possible.