Less than six months after its founding, tech startup ImIn,Inc. (ImIn) has closed $1 million in seed funding to launch the company’s answer to one of the most pervasive issues of today’s workforce: absenteeism.
With the newly secured funding, ImIn will scale and automate its on-demand employee scheduling app, which has been in its beta stage since June 2021. The app allows workers, particularly those in hourly, wage positions, to have full control of their work schedules while also earning rewards and incentives. Companies can, in turn, fill scheduling gaps by sending out push notifications to their talent pool.
“The world and how we do things is changing quickly and ImIn is helping organizations keep up by reimagining the way we work,” said ImIn’s founder and CEO Lauren Wilson. “Through our app, employees are now in control of their lives and careers and can choose when and how they want to work without impacting their employer’s bottom line.”
Collab Capital Says “I’m In”
The seed funding round was led by Collab Capital, an early-stage investment fund focused on start-ups led by Black founders, like Wilson, who at 28 years old, joins a distinguished group.
In addition to securing funding from Collab Capital’s inaugural $50 million fund, she also represents the fastest growing entrepreneurial segment: Black women. Within that, however, Wilson is a part of the less than 0.0006% of companies led by Black women who receive venture capital financing annually in the U.S., according to a study released by The Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the Rotman School of Management. This translates to less than 0.27% of all venture dollars distributed in the U.S., amplifying the significance of Collab Capital’s investment.
“Lauren Wilson possesses a wealth of experience and keen insight into emerging workplace trends, empowering her to innovate the future of work with unique approaches to common pain points for employers and employees,” said Jewel Burks Solomon, managing partner at Collab Capital. “We believe ImIn will improve the way businesses ensure shift coverage and staffing while enabling individuals to plan work around their lives.”
Solving an Industry-Wide Challenge
Wilson’s idea for ImIn started while working for her father’s enterprise, Chime Solutions, a high-volume call center business, also based in metro Atlanta. After graduating from the University of Georgia, Wilson stepped into the role of Chime’s chief of staff, overseeing the company’s workforce, which supports Fortune 500 brands.
It was in this role, over her seven-year tenure, that she identified the missed opportunities for both businesses and employees as a result of a common, yet widely accepted industry challenge: absenteeism.
According to a 2017 U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) report, an estimated three percent of an employer’s workforce was absent on any given day. Wilson estimates that number to be even higher today, exacerbated in recent years by the COVID-19 pandemic. Per Wilson, absenteeism can translate to upwards of $1 million monthly in lost revenue.
Democratizing the Workplace
In response to this challenge, Wilson’s platform provides flexibility by allowing employees to join and work based on the hours that work best for their schedules. In addition to providing flexibility for the full-time employee, ImIn also has the ability to offer hours to a pool of on-demand staff, which helps fill gaps in hours and ultimately minimize a company’s revenue lost on a daily basis.
For employees, the application supports work-life balance while also helping them maintain their employment and consistent income.
“I wanted to shift the traditional thought processes of the workplace, beginning with the outsourcing industry,” said Wilson, who believes static work shifts and 40-hour schedules should be a thing of the past. “There are members of our workforce who make tough decisions daily between attending to a personal matter and earning a paycheck. It was heartbreaking to talk to mothers, for example, who felt torn choosing between caring for her sick child or making a day’s wage.”
These experiences led to the development of ImIn, which Wilson was able to pilot within Chime and with much success. To date, five companies and their more than 600 users are on her platform, which has proven to increase revenue and decrease attrition for the companies and provide flexibility for the employees.
“I believe ImIn will prove to be a win-win for all involved,” said Wilson. “We have the opportunity to democratize work for some of our workforce’s most vulnerable as well as the up-and-coming generation who are prioritizing quality of life when making job and career decisions. We can do this while also providing more stability, higher profit margins and hopefully a greater level of service and optimization for the companies we support.”
For more information about ImIn, visit http://www.imin2.com.
