Espresa Raises $23 Million Series A Funding to Transform Personal Benefits for Global Workplaces

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Oct 31, 2023, 08:03 ET

The new funding round was led by Clear Ventures and will accelerate the expansion of Espresa's LSA Plus™ platform, modernizing personal benefits for global enterprises.

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Espresa, a personal benefits platform designed for global enterprises, announced the completion of its Series A funding round totaling $23 million led by Clear Ventures. All existing investors participated, including Crosslink Capital, New Era Capital Partners, Moneta Venture Capital, Ridge Ventures and Westwave Capital. The new investment enables scaling and expanding sales and marketing, platform development, and further building the global support infrastructure.

Espresa founders Raghavan Menon (left) and Alex Shubat (right).

Espresa's personal benefits platform is engineered to help HR and Benefits teams streamline and modernize their offerings. The company's unique approach — LSA Plus — blends traditional well-being benefits with Lifestyle Spending Accounts (LSA), which allows organizations to offer incentives for health-related and cultural activities. By directing existing funding to an LSA Plus program, employers can drive employee engagement and personalized well-being. Espresa optimizes budget allocation and simplifies the overall benefits landscape, enhancing the employee experience and bringing cohesion to HR strategies. As a mobile-first platform, organizations can engage employees wherever they live and however they work — in office, hybrid or remote.

Through the platform, employees can select meaningful and personal benefits for their life journey. Espresa allows access to LSA funds via payroll reimbursement, integrated marketplace or a pre-funded Espresa debit card. This unparalleled flexibility has resulted in industry record employee participation as high as 94%.

"Espresa solves multiple critical problems for human resource and people teams," said Alex Shubat, co-founder and CEO of Espresa. "Until recently, HR was trapped in too many point solutions, budget consolidation needs and a lack of employee engagement with the legacy benefits they offer. We're changing how people experience their benefits with a mobile-first platform that can change with the evolution of a company while being globally inclusive."

CTO and co-founder Raghavan Menon added, "Espresa redefines what is possible for a global population with a personal benefits technology platform. Employees get an effortless experience with the flexibility to choose benefits that truly matter to them, while employers gain a streamlined solution that easily fits into their existing HR infrastructure. With a presence in over 80 countries, support for local currencies and availability in more than 100 languages, global is our DNA."

Espresa has served hundreds of thousands of users on the platform across diverse sectors spanning tech, consumer, healthcare and pharma, financial services, media, agriculture, law, manufacturing and construction. Companies like Avalara, Cadence, Flex, Nielsen, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Prudential, Unisys and The Wonderful Company use Espresa's global platform to modernize their benefits offerings and improve employee experiences.

Clear Ventures' founding partner, Chris Rust, said, "We focus on finding portfolio companies that redefine what is possible. HR tech, the future of work and reimagining the benefits landscape with personal benefits that connect companies with their culture are precisely what Espresa does. While their roadmap is highly focused, their ability to develop exceptional technology to meet clients' collective needs is beyond a sprint. It's a marathon, and they do it expertly."

Espresa added luminary investor and founder of NEA Dick Kramlich and strategic EU-based London Technology Club (LTC) to its roster. Creating the critical shift in connective and global personal benefits, Espresa continues to grow thoughtfully and gain traction as a leading force in this space, this new funding brings the total raised to date to $30 million.

About Espresa, Inc.
Espresa, Inc. is Powering Great Workplaces® with personal benefits people love. The globally available LSA Plus™ platform consolidates physical, emotional, and financial well-being and family care benefits. Now, employers can incentivize wellness with activities that drive well-being pillars and promote recognition, community, and culture. Espresa was co-founded by Alex Shubat, CEO, and Raghavan Menon, CTO, in Palo Alto, California.

For more information, visit espresa.com.

SOURCE Espresa