Preciate, the Dallas-based dynamic virtual meeting platform, has closed a $12 million Series A funding round led by Woodland Capital with participation from existing investors—and announced it has changed its name to Scoot.
“We’ve all seen and felt first-hand the frustrations of legacy virtual meeting platforms in the past few years, and Scoot offers a fresh alternative to the sea of silent black boxes that has come to be synonymous with remote work,” Gabriel Goncalves, managing partner at Woodland Capital, who now joins Scoot as executive chairman of the board, said in a statement. “We know without a doubt that there is a huge opportunity to expand Scoot’s presence around the globe.”
Scoot said the $12 million in funding will be invested in product development and scalability to serve “a growing set of global customers.”
New name reflects the movement and energy of a successful meeting
The startup said it is redefining virtual meetings, gatherings, and networking. To reflect that, its new name emphasizes the importance of movement and energy in hosting successful meetings.
Ed Stevens, Scoot CEO
“Scoot is a fun name, and it reflects the energy our product brings into meetings,” Scoot CEO Ed Stevens said in a statement. “We think it will help more companies recognize that their virtual meetings can be more engaging, addressing employee detachment in the modern hybrid workplace.”
CEO Stevens is the co-founder of the renamed virtual meeting platform Scoot, first known as Preciate.
Scoot says it unlocks a new dimension for virtual meetings by replicating what happens when a group of people of any size gathers together in person to network, share, and discuss ideas. The upside? A level of engagement and productivity that resembles physical meetings, but with the flexibility, speed, and cost savings of a virtual meeting, the company says.
Combatting remote worker fatigue and disengagement
The name change to Scoot comes as demand for its virtual meeting platform has continued to grow, as enterprises struggle to combat remote employee fatigue and disengagement, the company said. It said that companies of all sizes have adopted Scoot to increase engagement in a variety of virtual settings, including all-hands meetings, webinars, networking events, learning & development sessions, onboarding, and recruiting.
“This Series A financing, closed in the midst of a significant tech bear market, proves there’s a massive need for Scoot,” Stevens said. “We’re going to continue expanding our platform and making it better, all while global enterprise demand for our product expands.”
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