Is Microsoft Going To Be Interested In Dynamic Signal?

There is no denying that employee engagement and employee communication platforms can have a dramatic impact on company productivity, employee engagement, and agility. Estimates on the size of both the employee engagement and communication industry are not easily available. A 2016 report had pegged the addressable market size for global employee engagement at $74 billion with an 8% annualized growth rate. San Bruno-based Dynamic Signal is one of the leading providers in this industry.

Dynamic Signal’s Offerings

San Bruno-based Dynamic Signal was founded in 2010 by serial entrepreneurs Russ Fradin, Steve Heyman, and Jim Larrison. The company was set up with the mission of establishing stronger bonds between organizations and their employees. It currently operates an online employee communication tool that helps organizations communicate with their employees across multiple platforms. Companies can easily create posts, videos, newsletters, and surveys to be shared with its employees. It allows for feedback collection and helps them automatically curate third-party content from social networks, RSS feeds, and its SmartContent algorithms.

Given the growing importance of social sharing, the platform also allows employees to share their thoughts by allowing them to publish approved employee-submitted content. It also provides analytic services to measure the impact of the messages. The ‘smart’ platform allows organizations to deliver targeted messages based on attributes such as function, role or location of the employee. Employees can access the information through email, mobile app news feeds, mobile push notifications, SMS, intranets, and other collaboration tools like Slack, Cisco Webex Teams, Yammer, and Workplace by Facebook.

While there are many communication tools available in the workplace, like Skype and Jive, Dynamic Signal distinguishes itself by not relying on chat-based communication. Its app focuses on broadcasting capabilities for large enterprises. Its customer list includes names like BM, Edelman, Ingram Micro, Salesforce, Autodesk, Domo, SurveyMonkey, and Humana.

Dynamic Signal’s Financials

Dynamic Signal is privately held and does not disclose detailed financials. Analysts estimate its annual revenues at close to $50 million. It has raised $115 million in funding so far with investments from Deutsche Telekom Capital Partners, Venrock, Akkadian Ventures, M12, Rembrandt Venture Partners, Cisco Investments, Adams Street Partners, Focus Opportunity Fund, Founders Circle Capital, Microsoft Ventures, Time Warner Investments, and Trinity Ventures. Its last round of funding was held in July this year when it raised $36.5 million at a valuation of $300 million. An earlier round held in 2016 had valued the company at $150 million.

Dynamic Signal may not yet be a Billion Dollar Unicorn, but it has attracted a lot of attention. According to market rumors, LinkedIn had tried to acquire the company in 2015. The two companies couldn’t agree at a price, hence the sale did not take place. Today, LinkedIn is owned by Microsoft which continues to scout for opportunities in the enterprise software market. Microsoft is already an investor in Dynamic Signal. Do you think it would plan on acquiring Dynamic Signal instead?

As a user, what features do you find the most attractive in Dynamic Signal? What other features can it add to the service to make it more interesting for you?

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Photo credit: Jim Larrison/Flickr.com.