Bootstrapped → VC
Enterprises
2016
Continuous feedback
Employee feedback
Brothers Mike and Philip Carden founded Joyous in 2017 and raised multiple funding rounds including a NZ$4 million seed, and later NZ$15 million in 2021.
Large enterprises adopted Joyous’ platform for “open feedback” as an alternative to anonymous surveys, particularly to improve real-time conversations and employee experience.
Startup Rollercoaster
The Spark
Brothers Mike and Philip Carden founded Joyous in 2017 to address the limitations of annual, anonymous employee surveys by creating a platform for frequent, open, conversational feedback.
The Peak
By 2020, Joyous was growing rapidly, attracting large enterprise clients and expanding beyond New Zealand. The company began gaining traction in the United States, as organizations adopted its platform to replace traditional surveys with real-time, open feedback.
The Drop
Adoption in some conservative industries was slow, due to concerns about open feedback and whether psychological safety could be maintained.
The Reset
Joyous added features such as optional anonymity and manager training to reassure users. They also developed integrations with HR systems and collaboration tools to fit enterprise workflows.
The Discipline
The company emphasised enterprise-sales capabilities and built a strong analytics engine extracting trends and insights from feedback. They also focused on privacy, security, and compliance to build trust.
The Climb
In 2021 Joyous raised NZ$15 million led by Square Peg, with returning investors AirTree and Icehouse, bolstering its ability to scale globally. Their open feedback model continues to gain traction among multinational companies seeking more agile employee listening.
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