15:53 | 06.02.20 | News | 10018

Lucky Carrot startup attracts investment from BANA

Investors from the network BANA (Business Angel Network of Armenia) have invested in the Lucky Carrot startup team. The investment will be used to further develop the team's innovative platform.

With Lucky Carrot, companies improve employee engagement and motivation with peer-to-peer recognition, helping to create a better work environment. The system allows employees to thank each other by sending online carrots, and then collected carrots can redeemed into gift cards from the best stores and entertainment venues. Lucky Carrot gives companies the opportunity of using the platform for 45 days for free to test it.

The Director or BANA Grigor Hovhannisyan explains why the four investors have decided to invest in this team - a strong team, interest in Lucky Carrot service from big companies, and opportunity to grow in the global marketplace. “The product was created based on market demands. By solving the problem within their team, they have realized that other organizations are facing the same problems. It is noteworthy that the companies that first registered and tested Lucky Carrot for free have subsequently become paid clients".

Unlike similar platforms in the global market, Lucky Carrot provides much more in-depth and useful analysis and gift cards from local stores in different countries. The novelty of the startup is to provide CSR (corporate social responsibility) to the company through its employees. In this model, employees contribute to the company's charitable programs.

The next novelty of Lucky Carrot is to incorporate the company's inhouse products into a gift card reward catalog where an employee can turn their online carrots into a service provided by the company itself. Using this model, Lucky Carrot reduces the company's bonus budget while keeping very effective.

“Participating in the 3rd batch of the Beeline Startup Incubator, we got acquainted with BANA investors. As a result of negotiations, we received our first investment, which will enable us to bring more professionals to the team, as well as participate in international conferences, find new clients and partners abroad. We have already begun this process”, said Mariam Gyulumyan, the co-founder and CEO of Lucky Carrot.

She tells how the idea of Lucky Carrot was created. “The bonus system was based on ineffective principles at our company. Each month, the management staff rewarded the best employee of the month, and other employees were getting demotivated since they also performed well during the month. Thanks to the 24-hour hackathon at our company, the idea of Lucky Carrot was born in January 2019; We started using it right away, and months later other companies joined us”.

The team consists of 7 people. Lucky Carrot's target audience includes Tech, Digital Marketing and Finance companies with 20-5,000 employees. The platform is currently being used by 27 organizations such as Hero House, SmartClick AI, Chessify, The Crowdfunding Formula, EarlyOne, gg, Seven Smarts, Onex, FinLex, EV Consulting, Deem Communications, and the Ministry of High-Tech Industry of Armenia.

Lucky Carrot plans to target the European, the US and Arab countries.