Mar 21, 2023
Business
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7
 min read

We sold WeHero

We sold WeHero to WizeHive, an LLR Partners Portfolio Company

The title gives away the big news. It’s the end of the first chapter of WeHero’s story. WeHero got started with the idea that there has to be a better way for employees to volunteer and make an impact. Ideas discussed over beers quickly led to a website and eventually to our first volunteer experience for Panda Doc in November of 2018. Fast forward 5 years to the end of 2022, we were still leading and executing volunteer and employee engagement events for hundreds of companies. Things had just gotten a lot bigger and a lot better. We’ve empowered over 50,000 employees and supported some of the biggest companies in the world. Our team expanded and we began doing events globally with some of our largest experiences taking place in Brazil, Poland, France, and the list goes on.

We’ve focused on doing one thing really well – having the most engaging volunteer experiences for companies that drive impact for their employees and supporting the world’s best nonprofits in the process. However, we have recognized for many years that volunteering is just one part of a company's overall corporate social responsibility and ESG strategy. Our mission is to empower the world to change the world. We knew that to do this effectively, we would have to do more than just volunteering. 

Throughout our history, we’ve worked with a number of partners who specialize in different parts of the same space. A few years ago, we met David Grubman, the VP of Sales at Bright Funds and learned about their platform and traded notes on what we were seeing across the market and our ultimate vision for WeHero.

In late 2022, David reached back out to us to connect with him and the CEO of WizeHive (who had purchased Bright Funds in 2021). We had a great conversation around the future of the industry, how to optimize ESG and CSR programs for companies, and how to maximize impact. It was an exciting discussion that led us down the path of exploring how we could unite together to reach a shared vision. After many conversations, we grew a deep level of respect for their leadership team and our combined vision. 

What drove us to do the deal?

As we thought more about the drivers of our industry, a few things we’re obvious to us:

  • Today’s workers are less engaged than ever. The combination of today's remote and increasingly disengaged workforces, coupled with higher levels of employee commitment seen toward employers who support philanthropic missions, is causing organizations to put greater focus on programs that drive employee engagement through social impact.  
  • The combination of donations and volunteering maximizes impact. Programs that achieve and maximize these twin objectives bring together education and team building with hand-ons volunteer opportunities, employee selected donation opportunities and employer matching.  
  • No one brings together everything in one solution. Many solution providers fail to bring together the full complement of experiences and opportunities in an integrated way that achieves high-levels of sustained participation and impact. 
  • We have big goals and a big vision. Empowering the world to change the world is a big task. Through our combination with WizeHive, we’ll get there faster. 

At the core of WeHero’s entire team is a love for building. We’re all entrepreneurs who leverage agility to deliver impact for our clients and nonprofit partners. As we looked at our industry drivers, we got excited about the ability to build a more complete solution for our clients that would make their programs more effective. 

Could we have done this without the combination? Maybe, but it would have been slow. Our ability to partner with WizeHive, who has the backing of LLR Partners, a leading Private Equity Investor, makes this vision a reality. They have experts, they have capital, and they have the skills we needed to take this vision forward. 

We’re excited to give our clients more impact, better data and easier program management. Leveraging WeHero events as a "points of activation" - and integrating with WizeHive's employee donation, matching and self-selected volunteer solutions can boost customers' overall program engagement and impact and drive more sustained participation in workforce giving programs.

What’s next?

Selling a business is never an easy thing. We’re comforted by the fact that we’re sending WeHero off to college where it will grow, learn and develop into an even better business than it would have been without WizeHive. 

I’d like to give a special thanks to our clients, nonprofit partners, advisors, and most importantly, the WeHero team. Our team worked hard every day to empower companies to make an impact. 

I look forward to the future, and building the best suite of corporate social impact solutions in the market. 

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