Digital training startup raises its first funding

how.fm, a German startup that provides digital training services for manual processes, secured its first institutional funding in a round led by Kindred Capitaland Capnamic Ventures along with a number of angel investors including the founders of Trivago, Blinkist, and Just Spices.

how.fm's mission is to "revolutionize manual skills training" and "democratize professional expertise" with a focus on transforming blue-collar work through its human process automation platform. The platform is a digital coach for worker onboarding, training, and peformance management. Companies can create digital content for standardized manual procedures, which is then automatically translated into workers' native language and formatted as interactive virtual training modules—essentially a smart assistant for manual processes.

Jörg Binnenbrücker, founding partner at Capnamic, observed: "Digitally training and reskilling blue-collar workers is a huge market and especially important in challenging times such as during a global health crisis.”

Andreas Kwiatkowski, co-founder and CEO of how.fm, said: “We have a unique opportunity to revolutionize work and productivity for those in manual roles, and for the companies that employ them. We believe in a future where any worker can get the best training, tailored to their individual needs, anywhere and anytime—delivered by a superhuman digital coach.”

The funding raised, he said, will be used to expand the startup's team in Germany and strengthen its product.